


Starbound

by TacticianLyra



Series: Of star-racers and lions [2]
Category: Oban Star-Racers, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Eva also has PTSD, Gen, Paladin Mental Link, Platonic Relationships and everything that comes with it, Sentient Voltron Lions, Shiro Is Still Space Dad, Shiro has PTSD, Swearing, Team as Family, it's gonna be a ride, probable medical inaccuracies, technically VLD plot with OSR characters and some changes of varying intensity, there will be angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2018-11-30 07:11:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 107,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11458614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TacticianLyra/pseuds/TacticianLyra
Summary: In which a certain lion-shaped ship is in the wrong place at the right time, and sets off a chain of events no one could have predicted accurately, least of all the Earth Team.It all starts when a supposedly-dead space pilot crash-lands on Alwas the evening after the first round of the playoffs…(Chapter 13 has additional content; colored font here and there where applicable now included!)





	1. Arc I: Race's End - Fate's Machinations

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for showing interest in my crazy impulse project!  
> This is my first project of this magnitude, so please do be kind with reviews/comments. Tips are always appreciated as well.  
> Also, if any of you dear readers are unfamiliar with Oban Star-Racers, I seriously recommend checking it out. It's only 26 episodes, but the watch is well worth the time. All episodes can be found on YouTube, even if the quality isn't the best.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which events are set into motion that _no one_ could have predicted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome and thank you for showing interest in my crazy impulse project that will probably end up being the longest fic I ever work on.  
> Short story is that, while I’m going to be following the episodes of VLD very closely where applicable, there are going to be some pretty significant alterations down the road. I mean, this _is_ a crossover after all.
> 
> Before anyone says anything, I’ve learned already that it’s actually a lot harder than you’d think in terms of translating visuals to words.  
> This will definitely include canon-typical violence to VLD. Possibly a bit of _atypical_ stuff, depending on what pops into my head.

The few moments of tense, worried breathlessness gave way to relieved jubilation when Eva saw the plume of yellow smoke, coinciding with a victorious whoop from Jordan. They’d scored their second win in the playoffs for the Pre-Selections. They’d move on to the second round. One step closer to the Ultimate Prize…whatever it was.

 _Any wish, any dream_.

That had a few implications by itself, but then again, Para-Dice had admitted to not even being twelve years old (at least in Wetanian years) yet. But that still made it worth wondering about.

She vaguely heard the race judges call out the final score—they’d won by _one point_ —before taking the cue to start back to their team’s pit. “Jordan, how’re your eyes?” she asked after they cleared the tunnel, remembering that he’d been a bit too late in turning off the infrared sensors the _Arrow_ had.

 _“Still feel like they’re on fire, but other than that, fine,”_ was his answer while she turned the star-racer in place before setting it down. The first person to greet her when she climbed out of the back hatch was the team’s first pilot, Rick, who smiled and gave a thumbs-up. As for the one she was looking for…

“Bravo Jordan!” their team manager praised, walking up to the team’s gunner. “That was excellent shooting out there today! The race wouldn’t have been won without you.”

“I-It was nothing, sir,” Jordan stuttered in response, momentarily glancing over at Eva. She clenched one fist slightly without really thinking about it.

One thing had become clear very quickly to her: this was not the Don Wei she remembered. The Don Wei she remembered was a kind man, completely different from the overly-strict team manager they had here on Alwas.

He _certainly_ would’ve recognized his own daughter…but he hadn’t.

He hadn’t, and a lapse in confidence on her part had ended with her inventing a false identity on the spot.

So to the team, she was Molly, and had been Molly for the past several days. A lot had happened in that time, from Rick’s career-ending accident, to their first loss against Toros that ended with their secret weapon—the _Whizzing Arrow II_ ’s hyperdrive—being put out of commission until Stan and Koji had time to get it replaced altogether.

She almost missed what Don said to her in a hesitant tone, to which she replied with a simple “Thank you, sir,” before going back into the _Arrow_ , this time to start on detaching her rocket-seat from the steering column, moving quickly so that she wouldn’t get in either Stan’s or Koji’s way while they did the post-race work.

The air in the building seemed to have become suffocating within the last minute.

“You coming or not?” she asked, glancing over at Jordan, who paused where he’d been making use of an eyedropper, before giving a half-grin and taking a seat behind her—and then they were off.

While she was sure to avoid anyone that was in the way, there might’ve been a time or two when a Scrub had to dive out of her way first. The sun was starting to set, staining the area around them fiery-orange. “Hey, uh, Molly?” Jordan started when they’d reached the edge of the souk. “I’m not sure I’m up for a long ride. Besides, all these fields look the same. What if we get lost or something?”

“Jordan, you have no sense of adventure,” she deadpanned in response. With a simple warning of “Hang on!” she floored the pedal, and the rocket-seat shot forward again. The fields were a blur going by for a few minutes before she eased up on it, seeing the stone structures lining the edges of a few of them. “Hey, those don’t look like anything else the Scrubs built, do they?”

Jordan looked at them for a few seconds. “I’ve never really paid attention to how the buildings look.”

“You could at least _pretend_ to be interested, you know!” Eva cut the engine to the rocket-seat when they’d padded a ruin that still looked mostly like a building, having a half-crumbled pillar on one side that led up to what looked like it had been a balcony at one point. “I’m gonna check that one out.”

“But it’s starting to get dark!” Jordan complained. She rolled her eyes, and turned to make a remark, only to see that he’d stopped stiff, and was shielding his eyes against the light, looking at something up to the side.

“Jordan?” she started, following his gaze—or at least, she tried to, having to squint against the sunset. It took a bit of staring, because it blended in with the sky, but the fact that it was quickly getting both bigger and brighter was what let her see it. “Jordan, I think we might want to back up a little,” she cautioned, taking a few steps backwards. He nodded jerkily in response, doing the same.

With only a sharp whistling sound as an audible last-second warning, the object slammed into the top of the ruin, bouncing off of it and over the road, hitting one of the paddy fields hard enough to shake the ground a little.

A series of cracking sounds from the ruin had them both glance back at it again, in time to see it start sinking into the lake at an alarming speed. “Okay, _maybe_ going in there would’ve been a bad idea,” Eva muttered, eyes wide.

“You think?” Jordan remarked dryly, before asking “What the heck was that thing, anyways?” while looking over his shoulder at it again.

 _That thing_ looked a lot like a ship, definitely bigger than the _Arrow_. It was gray in color, the edges of it being darker than the main part. “I don’t know, but there might be someone in it—c’mon!”

They both circled it a few times before Eva noticed that the back of it looked like a hatch, but no matter what she did, it wouldn’t budge.

“Molly, we don’t even know where this thing came from,” Jordan cautioned. “Or—or _who_ might be in it, even! What if they’re not friendly?”

“Jordan, they just _crash-landed_ ,” she reiterated. “Even if they’re not, they might be hurt!”

He scowled a little, though it turned into a wary look when he glanced over toward the road. The Stone Crusher stopped a few meters away from where the rocket-seat had been left on the road, Rush staring over at them for a few tense seconds before hopping off of his ship, pickaxe/chainsaw in hand.

“Um, did you—need something?” Eva asked, trying to keep her voice even.

“I’d followed you out here to congratulate you on your win,” the Byrusian replied. “I saw the ship crash on my way out here.” He eyed the sealed hatch before adding, “Allow me.”

One swing of the weaponized tool later, the hatch had one sizable dent in it, and it finally relented to their attempts at opening it, with only a metallic groan as a final protest.

Two seconds later Eva scrambled backwards with a barely-stifled scream, to which Jordan hurriedly alleviated with “It’s a robot! It’s just a robot!”

 _That doesn’t make it any less scary,_ she thought, creeping back over to the door. A second look showed that there were wires sticking out of the half of a humanoid figure. To the side, Rush hummed thoughtfully. “I’ve never seen a ship like this before.”

“Me neither,” Jordan agreed halfheartedly, looking up a bit. Then he started a bit, cursing in surprise, which had her flinch again—even in the occasions where his temper went, she’d never heard him curse before.

“Jordan, what—?” she started, to which he interrupted by pointing wordlessly.

Further back in the ship was the one actual passenger. He had black hair with a gray undercut and a white forelock, a lateral scar running across the bridge of his nose, and was wearing a uniform that was more rags than anything, but what had Eva really staring was that he was _human_.

“That…that _can’t_ be him,” Jordan muttered, voice thick with disbelief, before he quickly went in to make an attempt at picking the man up, though he settled for half-carrying/half-dragging him into the light after a few seconds’ worth of struggling.

“Can’t be who?” Eva asked, stepping over to help Jordan carry the man. He looked strangely familiar, but she couldn’t quite place why. A quiet, pained-sounding exhalation from the man prompted her to reconsider their priorities, and she looked up at Rush. “Um, do you think we could—get a ride back to town?”

He nodded. “I’d be glad to.”

* * *

It was funny, how fast it could go from feeling like you knew someone to realizing that you actually barely knew them at all.

Rick had just figured that out the hard way. Don really, _really_ did not seem like someone that would bother with having a family, and yet, he’d just up and told Rick that exact story, all because of one little comment he’d made to the team’s manager after Molly and Jordan had taken off.

Rick adjusted his shades so that they wouldn’t slide down at all before glancing at the old book he’d set on the table in the mezzanine. If it didn’t shed any light on that weird old stone pendent and the weird old symbol on it, he didn’t know what else would.

It was pretty much a history book, or at least something close to it—the scrawling letters that the Scrubs used were easy enough to get a basic grasp of, at least, otherwise this would’ve been an even-bigger headache than it needed to be.

The first couple of minutes hadn’t been much more than a self-imposed history lesson (turns out the Scrubs weren’t always so peaceful), and the one remotely-promising part of it—which had been describing some kind of “calamity”—had dropped into another subject altogether with no transitions.

Like whatever disaster it had been was purposefully removed from the record books.

Given that nature had decided to be a bitch and drop a lightning bolt on the one _person_ that was his lead, it was frustrating.

Given that whoever or whatever that symbol was linked to had _definitely_ sabotaged the _Arrow I_ and ruined his racing career with that, it was _beyond_ frustrating.

It made him feel useless, and Rick did not like feeling useless.

He also wasn’t sure he liked the feeling that had crept into the air over the last ten minutes or so—a heavy sort of tension that made it almost seem like there was a storm coming. The sky had been spotless earlier, but there were dark blotches on the horizon outside that might be rainclouds.

Another flip of the page faced him with an illustration that took up both sides of the old book, absolutely nothing on it even remotely resembling the symbol. What kept him from checking the page after that was the centerpiece of the illustration.

Footsteps to the side had him glance up. Rick wasn’t too much of a book person, either, which was probably why he could practically see the unsaid question on Don’s face. He picked the book up and turned it so the team manager could see the image. “Pretty picture, ain’t it?”

“I’m not sure I understand what I’m looking at,” was the near-monotone response.

“Pretty sure it’s a cat.” Rick paused, before adding “They don’t even _have_ cats on Alwas,” in a mutter mostly meant for himself. So maybe that was another thing to look into later.

Don stiffened then, looking through the window and into the hangar below, before going out to the top of the stairway. “Jordan? Where on earth is Molly?”

Rick followed him out to see that the team gunner had come back by himself, looking like he’d just run a marathon; he was doubled over and probably would’ve fallen over if Koji hadn’t been holding him up. “Jordan, breathe first,” Stan said after Jordan had tried and failed to answer Don’s question.

“Ship…crashed,” the gunner managed to say between gasps after a few moments, starting to catch his breath. “Someone was…in it. At hospital now. Molly’s there.”

“And _why_ is Molly still there, exactly?” Don asked, an edge in his voice— _there’s_ the Don that Rick was used to. (Not that Rick was necessarily glad to see him that way again.) “We have a race tomorrow, and we’ll all have to be adequately rested for it!”

In response Jordan raised his index finger in a  _wait-a-moment_  gesture, and swallowed hard before saying “It was the Kerberos pilot.”

For a few moments that seemed to last a lot longer than they really did, the only sounds heard were a few insects buzzing near one of the overhead lights. Then there was a doubtful “What?” from Koji, to go along with the disbelieving look from Stan.

“I’m serious! It’s _Shiro_!”

* * *

It seemed like only a few minutes had gone by before Jordan came back with the rest of the team in tow. The stormy look on her dad’s face when he saw her there was replaced with something that might’ve been shock when he looked a little further to the side, at the window that separated the hallway from what the doctor had referred to as the quarantine zone, before starting at a pace that wasn’t exactly walking toward the doorway leading into that room.

The only reason it was being used was because they didn’t know where this man had come from. Eva was also _certain_ that she’d seen him somewhere before, but Jordan had taken off in the general direction of the pit before she could ask him. She’d at least remembered to thank Rush for the ride beforehand.

“Well it—it sure looks like him,” Koji said finally, leaning forward a little.

“It _is_ him,” Jordan insisted. “Shiro was one of the best flight instructors in the whole Garrison before…” He trailed off, biting his lip.

His name was Shiro? Or was that a nickname? A nickname seemed more likely. It also all but cemented the feeling of knowing him from somewhere.

“Before what?” Eva asked. If she had to be honest with herself, the four looks of confusion she got really should’ve been expected. “I mean—he looks familiar,” she added. “I’m just not sure from where.”

“Well, it _was_ from a year ago,” Stan admitted. “It was all over the news when it happened, though.”

“It was a routine trip out to Kerberos,” Jordan clarified. “Which, uh, it’s one of Pluto’s moons. A-Anyways—all three of them just _vanished_ not too long after they even got out there. They said it was _pilot error_ , but…but Shiro was the pilot, and he’s right there.” He got steadily quieter as he spoke.

“You know him?” Eva asked.

“Uh, n-not personally, ‘cause he was stationed in a different country, but he broke practically every single piloting record the Garrison had.”

A sudden cacophony from the other room grabbed their collective attention, and Eva looked to see that Shiro had jolted awake and had made an attempt at sitting upright, only to sway a bit before sinking back down again. His attention darted around the room until it fixed on both her dad and the doctor (moreso her dad) and he was saying something that…that she couldn’t make any sense of.

She could dimly hear what sounded like they should be words, but the tones weren’t like anything she’d heard before and the translator-attachment that she’d gotten along with the others was just _not working_ with whatever language that was. She could hear a few words being repeated, a few of which seemed to stick out to her, but they didn’t have any real meaning to them, as far as she knew.

Don made attempts at saying something now and then, looking increasingly unnerved (and that only got Eva feeling anxious too) before the doctor cut in with something else before moving to take something off of a nearby table. Following that was a frantic stream of words that, while _she_ still didn’t recognize it, Koji apparently did, if how he jumped was any indicator.

“Did you catch that?” Stan asked uncertainly.

“Not really,” the technician mumbled uneasily. “He _really_ didn’t want to get sedated right there.”

“I don’t think anyone would want that,” Rick remarked quietly. “So what’s the verdict?” he asked at normal volume when Don came back into their half of the room.

“We’re going back to the pit,” he said stiffly. “They’ll be bringing Takashi there a few minutes from now.”

* * *

To say that the most recent events of today had been the _mother of all surprises_ would be a vast understatement, though it was one that Don admittedly had a mixed opinion on.

Mixed, because while he hated surprises, a man presumed to have been dead an entire year was actually quite alive…if not exactly well.

Takashi had left Earth with both arms, and had come to Alwas with one flesh-and-blood, one metal of an unknown kind. That the prosthetic was _wired directly to his nervous system_ was something the doctor had not been able to keep the awe from his tone over.

He’d spoken nothing but gibberish up until the very end, when there had been a single, panicked protest in Japanese; Koji had clarified on that last detail. The only reason that language wasn’t coded into the translators was because there hadn’t been a reason for it to have been.

(Another surprise—Don hadn’t been aware that their technician was bilingual until then. It was minor compared to the _other_ surprises they’d had so far, however.)

All of it together made for a troubling image that left him feeling uneasy, to the point where he wasn’t able to maintain his usual composure when contacting the president; he tapped two fingers repeatedly against the desk, waiting for the interlink to connect to Earth.

If the Coalition’s president was surprised to be contacted, he didn’t show it. _“Don Wei, I wasn’t expecting to hear from you again so soon,”_ he greeted, though his tone took a solemn tone at the addition of _“Everything’s well, I hope.”_

“Today’s race was a victory, albeit a narrow one,” Don replied. “Though we did have a bit of an… _unexpected_ development not too long ago. It—” He paused, feeling momentarily hesitant, before finishing “It has to do with the Kerberos Incident last year. A ship crashed here on Alwas, and the mission’s pilot was inside.”

_“Lieutenant Shirogane, if I remember that disaster right. He’s alive?”_

“Well, yes, but there are some…concerns for his mental state.”

The president sighed, though it was nearly inaudible. _“I’m not surprised. If he’s alive, it probably means he and the other two were captured and held prisoner for that entire time. Has he said anything about that?”_

Well, that went better than Don had expected. “If he had, it was nothing we could understand. The language he was speaking was indecipherable. And whatever he was saying…” Truthfully, Don wasn’t sure if Takashi had been fully conscious earlier. The look in his eyes had been borderline hysterical. “I would almost say he was trying to warn us about something.”

There was a long pause, the president looking as though he’d aged a decade all of a sudden, before saying _“Arrange for Lieutenant Shirogane to be brought back to Earth as soon as possible.”_

“Understood. But if I may—does this have to do with this threat you mentioned before?”

At that, there was a very clear hesitation. _“No, and for all of our sakes, I hope that this isn’t the precursor of something much worse.”_

* * *

Shiro heard the voices first.

They were quiet and indistinct when he noticed them, but slowly grew clearer—and then they stopped. _Why_ did they stop, and why did they sound _familiar_ , even though he was sure he’d never heard them before?

_Unless—_

The mental fog was ripped away with no precedent, and the first lucid detail Shiro comprehended was that his head collided very hard and very fast with someone else’s. Whoever it was fell back with a sharp curse, with someone else hurriedly asking if they were okay.

Shiro himself kept one hand to his forehead for a few seconds, waiting for the spike of pain to pass, before moving the appendage just low enough for him to see that he was lying on a low red couch, with there being a small coffee table to his right. Beyond that were the voices’ sources, whom Shiro could only stare at.

All four of them were human, and that observation was both relieving and disconcerting at the same time.

The first ever-so-elegant words out of his mouth was “Uh—hi?” if only because he not only had to mentally fumble to not use…some alien language, but also speak a _specific_ human language, which was one he thankfully had at least a basic—emphasizing _basic_ —grasp of.

He never thought he’d be thankful for those mandatory language lessons that the Garrison had, specifically the French ones, and yet here he was.

At the same time, something seemed… _off_ about this, like his ears were hearing one thing but his brain was comprehending it as something else.

“Hi,” the one sitting closest to where he was returned; the only girl of the four had black hair with the top half dyed red, and was wearing a cropped green-and-yellow shirt with beige trousers. Her right ear had three piercings in it, and she had two tattoos on her face, under her eyes: a star on the right side and a vertical line on the left. “A-Are you, um, okay?”

“I…think so.” Half of him wanted to say _yes_ , the other half wanted to scream _no_. He felt fine, for the most part, except for the fact that everything before now was a foggy mess. “I-I’m sorry, but—where are we?”

“Alwas.”

That sounded familiar, somehow, in a way that made his heart jump. At the same time, he knew all the names of the planets in the Coalition, and Alwas wasn’t one of them.

Both of the girl’s responses had been halting, as though she wasn’t sure how to address him. Which, considering they’d just met, made sense. “And…who are you?”

“Molly,” she answered after a moment, offering a quick smile and holding a yellow-gloved hand out. Shiro took it after a moment of hesitation, telling himself that they were _extremely unlikely_ to be a threat of any kind—but the unease refused to go away. “The guy you knocked heads with is Stan,” the girl went on, before gesturing over her shoulder. “And that’s Koji.” One of the two sitting offered a small wave, dark-haired and pale and bespectacled.

Shiro offered a quick apology to Stan, who replied with “I’ve been hit with worse,” as he stood up—he had dark skin, red hair and sideburns, and was wearing beige overalls with smudges of what Shiro assumed was engine oil on them; the same went for his own pair of gloves.

Koji’s outfit was similar to that, with the addition of a shirt colored like Molly’s, and minus the gloves. _Mechanics, maybe?_

Shiro found himself being intercepted by the third boy before he could ask, in the form of a vigorous handshake. He was talking too quick for Shiro to catch much, aside from the fact that his name was Jordan Wilde, and that he referred to Shiro as Lieutenant Shirogane.

“Just Shiro is fine,” he replied, finding himself smiling a little at Jordan’s enthusiasm. He had black hair with one half bleached blonde, and some light freckles across his face. His cameo-patterned green outfit had those same yellow highlights as Eva’s and Koji’s—it _had_ to be a uniform of some sort.

Stan got up, shaking his head a bit, before pausing, making a face. “No offense, but those _reek_. How long’ve you been in ‘em?”

Shiro glanced down at himself, specifically at the dark-colored outfit he was wearing that looked more like rags than anything. As for the answer to the question…he found himself unable to come up with it. He settled with “You probably don’t want the answer to that.”

Jordan scratched the back of his head a bit. “Well, I have some spare boots that might fit you,” he said before turning on his heel and vanishing through a doorway to what looked like it was an elevator.

Stan followed him, muttering something that vaguely sounded like “I might have something too.” Koji shuffled his feet a bit before vanishing into a smaller room off to the side; from what little Shiro could see of it, it might be a kitchen.

Not that he was complaining, because he couldn’t remember when the last time he ate was. Actually, he couldn’t remember much of _anything_ , now that he was thinking about it. His head felt like it was filled with cotton candy.

Shiro nearly missed Molly asking him a question. “Hospital?” he repeated blankly, brow furrowing slightly. He could dimly recall being somewhere hospital-like, now that he was really thinking about it.

She nodded. “You were saying something back there, but we couldn’t understand most of what you were saying.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Shiro replied, frowning more at himself than at her. He offhandedly noted that her eyes actually weren’t brown—they were more of a maroon shade in this lighting, and might actually be red in direct light. At the same time, Stan and Jordan both returned, each holding something.

“These look okay?” the former asked, proffering the fabric.

“They do.” Shiro took the clothes before adding, “Thanks.”

“No problem. Bathroom’s the first room to the right up the stairs.”

The room was mostly greyscale, with some tan hues here and there. While Shiro knew he looked _different_ , considering that he’d been gone for—months? _Years_? He didn’t know how long.

Either way, he still stopped at seeing his reflection in the wall-mounted mirror over the sink. He looked ten years older than he really was…which was what, still twenty-four? Twenty-five? Or older than that? Shiro didn’t know what day it was, or what the date in general was, so he couldn’t be sure.

The clothes and boots all fit okay, which was a plus. The dark-colored raggedy outfit was promptly stuffed into the wastebin, and while Shiro was tempted to find a lit match to drop on it, he wasn’t sure how safe that would be.

He’d also found with a jolt that there was a small device fastened to the back of his neck, though at the same time that _might_ explain why it was like he was hearing two different things at once from the others.

After he was back down the stairs and as he turns the corner, something stopped him cold.

He was fairly certain his nose actually _twitched_ a few times as he tried to put a name to the scent in the air. “Hope you like cup-ramen,” Molly said when she saw him, seeming to be halfway through her own already. “It’s all we have.”

 _Cup-ramen_. Shiro could tell by their expressions and the barely-suppressed giggles that they hadn’t been expecting him to practically inhale the cheap noodles, but it was the best thing he’d tasted in a long time. That one was a fact—he could practically feel it in his bones.

When he was about finished, something caught his eye, out the window. A better view of it came from the balcony through the door: indisputably a star-racer.

It was no _Persephone_ , but it did look like a decent craft, sporting an orange/purple paint-job in a flame-like pattern on both reactors. The left one had what looked like a pink rabbit’s-head spray-painted onto it. Pilot’s touch, if Shiro had to guess.

“That’s the _Whizzing Arrow II_ ,” Stan said from somewhere behind Shiro, a note of pride in his voice. “Koji and I helped build her.”

“What happened to you, anyways?” Jordan asked then. “You were going on about some stuff back at the hospital, but you were really out of it.”

“What kind of stuff?” Shiro asked, raising an eyebrow. (Yep, that thing was definitely a translator.)

There was another tense pause, before Koji said, “Nothing you were saying made sense. I mean—we couldn’t understand a word of it. What language was that?”

“I…I’m not sure.” He really wasn’t. The more he thought about it, the more it was seeming like someone had taken a vase full of his memories and thrown it onto the floor, and thrown a few of the larger pieces out. “I remember the mission, and being captured, but everything between that and now…it’s all a blur.”

“Okay, so do you know who captured you?” Jordan asked. His tone took on a belligerent edge when he added “Was it the Crogs?”

“No.” He’d answered suddenly enough to have all four of them startle, and thoughtlessly enough to surprise himself. “Not—not Crogs. Something else.”

Something else, who were looking for…for _something_.

_Something important._

* * *

Jordan wasn’t really sure what he had been expecting when Shiro—actually _Takashi Shirogane_ himself—woke up, but this…wasn’t exactly it. He seemed a little amused by Molly’s various questions on all the various records he’d broken piloting-wise, and he’d asked a few questions of his own about the  _Arrow_ , which Koji had answered by showing him a few things on his tablet, but the tension hadn’t disappeared from the lieutenant’s face.

His team hadn’t been captured by Crogs, but he didn’t remember who or what the culprit had been.

The only clue they had was the robot half that had been in the ship he’d come to Alwas in. Jordan was almost tempted to go back out there to take another look at it.

There wouldn’t be much of a point to that, though, since now it was too dark to… _wait_.

“H-Hold on a second. That ship you came here in—there was half a robot in it.”

The conversation halted, and Shiro’s brow furrowed a little. Jordan was also getting two dumbstruck looks from the mechanics at that detail, but he ignored it for the most part.

“Yeah,” Molly agreed. “Does that sound familiar?”

“I think so,” was the slow response. “What did it—” Shiro stopped abruptly, at the same time as a bizarre sort of tension abruptly creeping into the air.

For a few seconds, it felt almost like gravity had been momentarily turned off, and then back on before anything had a chance to move. Then the entire foundation of the pit shook hard enough to throw him to the ground, an explosion sounding somewhere scarily close.

“What the hell was that?” Stan asked seconds after picking himself up off the floor as well.

“Maybe one of the nearby teams did something?” Koji suggested, voice wavering a bit. That actually would’ve been a viable reason—one of the teams closer to the lake managed to have their star-racer explode after a modification went wrong—but a second, louder explosion rendered that null and left the lights flickering.

At that point, Jordan bolted down the stairs and to the pit’s entrance, and then his train of thought all but derailed both hard and fast. The most notable things about the sight outside was that more than a few buildings were on fire right now, and there were _multiple_ dark shapes in the sky, visible through all of the smoke by vivid red highlights.

A sudden movement next to him shook him out of it, and Jordan turned to see Rick; the ex-pilot stared out for two seconds before looking over his shoulder, saying “Molly, take the others in the _Arrow_ and get out of here!”

“But what about—” she started protesting, but he cut her off.

“Don might be a human cactus, but he can’t throw a punch to save his life! Now _git_!”

Don Wei had gone out a few minutes before Shiro had woken up and hadn’t come back yet. And now Rick was gone too, Jordan already having lost sight of him in the darkness.

It took Stan grabbing him by the shoulder to snap him back to attention again, and he’d barely had time to strap himself into the turret before the _Arrow_ shot out of the pit at a speed quicker than what Molly usually did when heading to a race.

Then again, this wasn’t a race, and that detail was shoved to the forefront of Jordan’s attention when a laser blast just narrowly missed the _Arrow_ , the resulting explosion briefly sending the star-racer careening to one side.

Jordan wasn’t sure what was going through her head at the moment, either. She hadn’t gone for the open plain that went away from the civilized area, but then again, maybe these aliens would’ve expected that.

It also meant that they were constantly swerving left and right to avoid more laser shots and what Jordan thought were other star-racers, but they were going by way too fast for him to actually get a solid glimpse of anything.

Even then, he wasn’t sure he _wanted_ to get a better look—and it got even worse when they reached the souk, because then there were all the _buildings_ to watch out for too.

Another near-miss had Jordan suppress a flinch, and he angled the turret upwards to aim at the source. With the light from the fires, he could see that the alien ship was dark-gray in color and all angles, looking _vaguely_ similar to the ship Shiro had come to Alwas in. Jordan set his shoulders before opening fire, with the thought of _I don’t know who you aliens think you are, but you’re gonna regret messing with us!_

But it became apparent after a minute that while star-racers really were _not_ meant for combat, that alien ship was. The _Arrow_ had the turret Jordan was in, but it just didn’t have the raw firepower to even leave a mark on that thing—and he did _not_ want to know what would happen if the _Arrow_ took a hit from one of those laser blasts.

 _Maybe we can outrun him,_ he thought, opening the comm channel, but the suggestion faded in his throat almost immediately.

He wasn’t sure if Molly noticed that the comm was up to begin with, with how she was staring straight ahead with a glassy-eyed look, and though he couldn’t see either of the mechanics, from what little he could hear over the currently-redundant alarm and all of the background noise, they weren’t doing much better.

Shiro looked tense, face beaded with sweat. If he started panicking, Jordan was sure it would spell doom for his own nerves. The _Arrow_ made another sharp turn, now streaking across some paddy fields, picking up speed now that they were on open ground with no obstacles ahead—but that alien ship was still behind them, keeping pace with them.

Over the screen, he saw Molly punch in a command without looking at the console. The _Arrow_ jolted seconds later, accentuated by a loud backfiring sound from both reactors, and Jordan’s view was obscured by dark smoke and flickers of flame. _She must’ve tried using the hyperdrive,_ he thought, swallowing reflexively.

There was a sound akin to a terrified whimper over the comm—it took a bit for Jordan to realize it had been from _Molly_ —right before the star-racer pivoted to the side into a stand of thick trees. At least, Jordan assumed they were trees.

A metallic crunching sound garnered an involuntary flinch from him, but Jordan saw the bloom of flame from up in the air; the alien ship had crashed into one of the trees. There was a hoarse sigh over the comm from Stan, and Shiro visibly sagged a little in relief.

Molly didn’t let up on the speed, still staring ahead dazedly, and Jordan opened his mouth to say something to maybe snap her out of it, but something else caught his attention—and a few of the more flamboyant words in his vocabulary ran through his head in rapid-fire succession when he realized what exactly they were speeding toward.

“MOLLY— _CLIFF_!”

* * *

Up until this tick, the assignment had been going absolutely perfect. Lirax had nearly laughed aloud when he _saw_ just how primitive this planet was—it had no defense systems of any kind anywhere, and the participants of the racing competition had been all too complacent with the interplanetary “truce” in effect.

True, there had been some attempted resistance, but that was equally laughable. Those held aboard the ship now will be sent elsewhere in the empire’s reaches, once this was all settled with—specifically the one major hiccup that he’d just been presented with.

“What. Is. _That_?” he growled, staring at the video feed that had been recovered from a destroyed fighter.

“It appears to be one of the racing ships, sir,” one of his subordinates answered. That much was obvious by design alone. The smaller craft swerved frantically from side to side, just narrowly avoiding every single shot, all while a side-mounted turret fired onto the fighter. Despite its build, it was surprisingly swift.

At one point there was a burst of flames from the two reactors of the racing ship, shortly before it turned into a stand of fossilized flora. The video cut out the moment the fighter hit one of the petrified structures.

Lirax’s eyes narrowed. “Which planet is that piece of scrap from?”

The subordinate audibly swallowed before replying, “It was from the escaped prisoner’s homeworld.”

The commander rounded on the rest of the crew immediately. “Search the island for them! They cannot be allowed to find the Lion before we do!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trivia/worldbuilding!  
> -everyone participating in the Great Race receives a translation device, because the everyone/thing-speaks-the-same-language thing just really irritates me. The device is attached to the base of the user's neck, and interacts with the nervous system via short-range electronic signals, translating auditory input with the use of a computer database that's constantly updating.  
> -the whole human-language bit is running on the basis of only one language being in the translator, i.e. the one the race team spoke. Which in this case, as a nod to where OSR was developed, is French. Shiro is pretty used to English, given that he was stationed in what might just be the state of Arizona, if some little details in VLD's first ep are anything to go on.
> 
> -Space Academy (OSR) = Galaxy Garrison (VLD). Using the latter's name because it sounds less cheesy. Jordan is known as "that guy who always goes overkill in target practice" and "the guy that made Mr. Feinberg retire" on top of being William Wilde's grandson. He isn't a favorite of many of the staff for the latter two reasons, Iverson included, and is ostracized by most of the other cadets.


	2. Arc I: Race's End - Crossroads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the Galra attack leaves the team shaken. So does the fact that there is such thing as glowing cave-paintings, and giant mechanical lions.  
> Then there's the dilemma of the race's status.

In a near-repeat of earlier, Shiro was sitting upright before he had time to think about what he was doing, or about what had happened. It was too dark to really see anything, but he could hear the quiet lapping of waves on sand somewhere not too far off, and smell smoke. There was a dull ache between his eyes, and his heart was racing.

They followed him to Alwas. They were searching for…for whatever it was they wanted. He still couldn’t remember what exactly they wanted, just that he _couldn’t let them find_ —

The ache intensified for a few seconds, and Shiro winced, stumbling to his feet. The sound of a piece of glass crunching underfoot gave him some pause. Then the most recent event came rushing back, right as he heard a sudden shuffling sound behind him; one of the mechanics was sitting up now, though he couldn’t really tell which one it was at the moment. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“Define _alright_ ,” was the flat response—Stan. He stood up, pausing for a moment before asking “We didn’t just crash, did we?”

“Not exactly,” Shiro replied slowly, thinking back on it. “I think…I think we fell, actually.”

“Fell, no,” he heard Jordan say then; a metallic creak had preceded a hatch opening to let him pull himself up onto the cockpit’s floor. “Flew off a cliff, yes.”

 _That explains why we were all knocked out._ The smoke was starting to make Shiro’s eyes water—but they’d gone quite a distance away from the natives’ town (village?), so he wasn’t exactly sure how he was even still smelling smoke to begin with.

At least, not until Stan also seemed to notice it, swore, and then opened a smaller hatch in the floor to take out something before jumping down from the ship. Following that was the telltale sound of a fire extinguisher being used.

Koji was also starting to get back to his feet, and now that some of the clouds above had moved and improved the lighting, Shiro could see that Molly had been thrown out of the seat by the impact, lying in a spot thankfully clear of glass shards; the impact had also broken the covering of the star-racer’s cockpit.

She was breathing okay when Shiro went to check on her after clearing the glass shards from the floor of the cockpit (bonus of having a metal arm—it couldn’t be cut up by glass) and groaned quietly before looking up at him. “Shiro? What happened?”

“We crashed,” he replied. “How are you feeling?”

Molly looked shocked for a second or two before saying “I’m okay. What about—?”

“We’re okay too,” Koji spoke up quietly, sharing a look with Stan, who’d since climbed back up. “You tried using the hyperdrive before.”

“I… _what_?” The shock turned to quiet fear in the span of four seconds. “How’s the _Arrow_?”

“Can’t see too much without light or equipment,” Stan said. “But if I had to guess…” He shook his head. “We’re gonna have some problems with the next race.”

At that, something that wasn’t exactly fear crossed Molly’s face, before transitioning to the actual emotion. “Wait, where are Rick and Don Wei?”

Shiro didn’t know the names (or did he? They both sounded familiar, vaguely) but he was going to assume that one of them had been the fifth person seen before everything had gone sideways. The other three had frozen in place, with Jordan shifting a bit before saying “No idea. Rick ran out looking for Don before we booked it.”

Molly scrambled to her feet. “Then we have to go look for them—c’mon!” As if on cue, a thundercrack equivalent in volume to a cannon shot sounded overhead, making all of them flinch.

“Not right now we aren’t,” Stan countered decisively, taking a tarp from the storage compartment and throwing one half over the largest piece of intact glass. The other was left to hang off the edge, and just in time, because then the sky opened up.

“Well this sucks,” Jordan huffed, after managing to balance one of the two flashlights so that it provided some light in the makeshift tent.

“It’s not _too_ bad,” Koji commented, smile faltering a bit at the flat looks both Jordan and Molly gave him. “It’s…kind of like camping?” Something else seemed to catch his attention then, and he started slightly before taking the fourth and final item from the storage compartment out, which was a small medical kit, and pushed it toward Stan. “I think you got a cut right here.” He motioned to a spot next to his eye, and when Shiro looked at Stan, he now noticed the streak of darker red on his face.

“Huh?” Stan reached up to poke at the spot, flinching a bit when the fabric of his glove made contact with the source of the blood, before taking some gauze and a small canister of antibiotic out of the kit. “Ugh, I thought I felt something weird right there.”

Shiro watched the exchange quietly, until he noticed Jordan looking sideways at him. When the mutual attention was noticed, he asked “Who the hell are those guys anyways?”

The answer to that flickered in Shiro’s head, like the lightning that had just flashed overhead. “Galra.” The name was bitter on his tongue. “They’re the Galra.”

Conversation thoroughly halted, all four of them looked at Shiro with varying expressions, until Koji hesitantly asked “Do you remember anything else?”

The aliens that captured him and his team were called Galra, and they were looking for _something_ —

“They’re looking for something here on the planet somewhere,” Shiro said slowly, scowling up at nothing in particular. “Some kind of weapon.”

“A weapon?” Molly echoed.

“That _sounds_ like a good-enough reason for all this to happen,” Stan muttered while making sure the small patch of gauze would stick. “What _doesn’t_ make any sense is why something like that would be here in the first place.”

“Actually, it kind of does,” Koji pointed out uneasily. “Alwas is as peaceful as it gets.”

“Not like _that_ did any good,” Jordan commented sarcastically, and Shiro felt himself wince more than anything.

“Sorry for dragging all of you into this,” he said quietly.

Jordan froze, before stammering out “H-Hey, at least you were here to warn us. I’m not sure I wanna think about what could’ve happened if you weren’t.”

Neither did Shiro, if the nausea that followed comprehending that statement was any indicator. He couldn’t be too sure about Stan or Koji, but Molly and Jordan had to be teenagers at the most.

Shiro shook his head a little before asking, “Alwas isn’t one of the planets in the Coalition, is it?”

“It’s not,” Jordan affirmed in response. “We’re here for some kind of important racing competition.”

“The Great Race of Ōban,” Molly elaborated.

“I figured it was a competition,” Shiro said. “But, ah…don’t you have to be at least eighteen to fly a star-racer?”

That got the stilted response of “Rick was our first pilot. He…can’t race anymore.”

“I still think we were sabotaged,” Stan grumbled.

“Stan, we already went over this,” Koji sighed. “There’s nothing in the rules against sabotage.”

“That doesn’t mean we have to be okay with it though!”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Shiro cut in, the walls of the tarp-tent being briefly illuminated by a flash of lightning.

Molly was looking off to the side now, almost blankly, before she asked “Do you think they made it out of there okay?”

“If there was anywhere to hide, I’m sure they found it.”

“Yeah,” Jordan agreed. “C’mon Molly, this is _Rick_ we’re talking about!”

Molly smiled briefly, nodding almost imperceptibly, though it faltered. “There’s something else, though.”

“Which is?” Stan queried.

“Why did this all happen? I mean—why didn’t the Avatar do anything to stop it?”

Avatar. Shiro knew that the word was typically used in gaming terminology, but here it sounded like something more… _important_. “The Avatar,” he repeated, before asking “Who is that?”

“He’s some kind of…” Jordan trailed off for a few seconds at a muffled sound that didn’t quite sound like thunder. “Some kind of guardian, I guess.” He snorted before adding “He’s sure not doing a good job at it right now.”

Shiro replied with a thoughtful sound, if only because he was clueless, making note of Molly stifling a yawn before saying “You four should get some rest.”

“What about you?” Koji asked.

“I’ll be fine. Besides, someone has to keep watch.”

Neither he or Jordan looked entirely convinced, but Shiro couldn’t see them for long anyways, since Stan reached to turn the flashlight off shortly after. It wasn’t long before he heard quiet snores from someone.

It took a while longer for Shiro’s eyes to adjust to the darkness, and he found himself smiling a little at the sight of the four of them huddled together against the chill in the air from the rain. It faded into a grimace shortly after.

He dragged them all into his mess. Unintentionally, yes, but they were still in danger because of him. The Galra did not show mercy, not even to children…and though Shiro couldn’t remember how he knew that, if the emotion that crashed through him at that thought was any indicator, he might not _want_ to remember.

And all he still knew for certain was that they had to find whatever weapon was hidden on this planet before the Galra did.

 

The first thing Stan comprehended when he woke up was that it was cold, which left him confused for a few seconds, staring blankly at the fabric above that sounded like it had rain pattering against it.

Then he remembered _why_ he was seeing and hearing both of those things, and looked around—not that it did much, considering that it was _early_ morning, and with how the tarp was set up. Molly, Jordan, and Koji looked like they were still pretty out of it, but Shiro was gone.

 _Probably just outside,_ he thought, wincing as he stood up; the _Arrow_ ’s cockpit wasn’t the most comfortable thing to fall asleep in, and he was pretty stiff after lying on the metal surface.

Then again, it wasn’t like they’d had much of a choice.

A glance outside showed that they really were on a beach, though a different one from the end of the racetrack. It wasn’t as spacious, having more than a few piles of rocks strewn about. What light there was let him see an unbroken line of dried seaweed lining the water’s edge.

Shiro was standing by the edge of the water, looking further down the beach, toward where the team had called home for the past week. There was really only one indicator on where exactly it was in comparison to the Scrubs’ settlement, and that was the thick smoke just visible in the distance, by means of it blotting out the still-fading stars.

Beyond that, it was both too dark and too far away to really make out any details, aside from a few indistinct shapes hovering above it all that he had a nagging feeling were _not_ birds.

He wasn’t sure how much time went by, the only indicator being that that the sky had gradually started lightening to a very pale blue, and footsteps behind him startled him back to attention.

“They really wrecked the place, huh,” Jordan muttered, eyes wide in dismay. Koji’s expression pretty much matched the gunner’s, as did Molly’s, but only for a few moments.

“So now what do we do?” she asked.

Shiro looked around the beach, brow furrowed slightly, before saying, “We find a place with better cover. It’s too open out here.” He paused, before asking “Is the _Arrow_ operational?”

“Uh…” Stan glanced at Koji, who now looked just as unsure as Stan was feeling. If he had to be completely honest with himself, he had some _serious_ doubts on if their star-racer could even move after that crash.

“It’s worth a try, but I wouldn’t have my hopes up if I were you,” he said finally.

Molly started the _Arrow_ without a word after climbing back up to the cockpit, and there was a few seconds’ worth of loud sputtering sounds before the power was cut. Her expression was unreadable when she came back down.

“Okay, I’m no mechanic, but that didn’t sound good,” Jordan said, having winced at the sound.

“It didn’t,” Koji agreed grimly. Some heavy-duty repairs were obviously needed, which would take _at least_ a whole day’s worth of work. Which they didn’t have.

At least, they _wouldn’t_ have had. Stan felt like it wouldn’t make much sense for the second round of the playoffs to go on so soon after the disaster that was last night.

Shiro exhaled slowly. “Alright, so we’ll have to make do with anything that’s nearby.”

“Like what?” Stan asked, looking around again. The beach was pretty featureless aside from a hollows in the ground, the nearest being a few meters away. They were soon shown to actually be geysers, with a spray of hot (Stan could tell as much from a short distance) water shooting out of one of them without warning.

The cliff they’d raced off of the night before was just as much of a veritable blank slate, except for various patches of moss and ivy clinging to the rock. There were a few overhangs that looked somewhat promising, but they weren’t that inconspicuous.

Molly was looking at another one just ahead, stopping and doing a double-take before she could walk away from it before calling “Hey, I think I found something!”

It took Stan a few seconds to notice it, but once he did, he was wondering how he _hadn’t_ —built up against and partially into the cliffside was what looked like an old shack of some kind.

The outside portion looked like it had been constructed out of driftwood, which had since had provided a structure for some creeping vines, so it blended in for the most part. It also must have been there for a while, with how the makeshift door came right off its hinges when Shiro went to open it.

The shack didn’t feature much inside, save for a bed in one corner and what looked like had once been a table near the doorway. In another corner was a small circle of rocks, with some ashes in the middle, and small pieces of charcoal. There wasn’t a conventional floor, either; it was all sand.

“Did someone used to live out here?” Molly asked, poking around by the rocks.

“Sure looks that way.” Stan’s attention was more or less on the back wall—there was a sheet pinned against the rock that was only noticeable because it looked both threadbare and moth-eaten at this point. Behind it was a crevice that led further into the cliff, which Shiro ducked into after a moment.

“It looks like this is some kind of tunnel,” he called back. “It might be worth checking out.”

“If you say so,” Jordan said with a small shrug, though he paused before adding “Hang on a second,” and running back out.

“Wha’—Jordan, what are you…?” Molly trailed off at seeing, and Stan went to help when he realized what the gunner was doing. That the tarp was a sandy color was a bonus, but the dried-up seaweed lobbed over it would hopefully make the star-racer blend into the beach better when seen from above.

 _Let’s just hope no one comes out here on a hike or something,_ Stan thought once satisfied with the makeshift cover, making sure to grab the flashlights before going back to the others.

“Is that going to be convincing enough?” Koji asked.

“It should be.” Shiro blinked a few times in quick succession before adding “Those ships—they’re drone-piloted.”

While the tunnel did widen a little, it was still narrow to the point where they had to walk in a single-file line, which led to a brief pileup when the pathway abruptly turned a one-eighty, leading deeper into the ground. The air also became more humid further down, with water dripping from the ceiling.

“We must be under the ocean now,” Koji observed, followed by a warning from Shiro about the path angling upwards again.

 _That rock better be thick then,_ Stan thought, eyeing a spot where the water was trickling down the side of the tunnel wall in a steady miniature stream.

Finally, the tunnel led out to an open space, with a single skylight in the roof providing some early-morning light. “It’s a boring old cave with nothing in it,” Jordan summed up. “I guess it’ll work.”

Molly scanned the walls, frowning a little, but before Stan could ask, she said “You call that nothing?” while gesturing to the back wall, which was strangely void of any residue.

There was something etched into the stone in delicate, angular shapes: a jumble of swirls toward the bottom, angular spots near the top, and between them a defined shape surrounded by curved lines.

Either it was just him, or it was illustrating something having fallen from space and into the ocean.

Jordan blinked at it before admitting “Alright, so that’s  _not_ nothing,” and stepped forward to look at it more closely, squinting at the centerpiece of it for a few seconds. “Wait a second, is that a _cat_?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Stan dismissed, before taking another look at it. A head with small vaguely-triangular shapes for ears, four legs, and a tail were easily recognizable. In short, yes, it did look vaguely like a cat.

“But they don’t have cats on Alwas,” Molly said, face scrunched up in confusion. “Do they?”

“They don’t,” Koji confirmed. “At least—not that I’ve seen anywhere.”

Jordan stared at the maybe-a-cat some more, before looking toward the top of the picture and pointing. “Hey, what’s that one up there supposed to be?”

Stan hadn’t noticed the topmost part of it until Jordan had pointed it out, given that it was actually on the ceiling. It was circular, outlined by an intricate design, though there were also jagged lines radiating from it. “Maybe the sun?” Stan suggested, shrugging a bit.

“I don’t think so.” Koji had taken a step back to get a better look at the entire thing. “The rest of it makes it look like the middle of the night.”

“Whoever was living in that shack before tried hiding this,” Shiro mused. “But _why_?”

Jordan shrugged. “Maybe they just wanted to keep the weird old cave art to themselves?”

Molly rolled her eyes. “Jordan, just because you don’t get it doesn’t mean it’s weird.” She paused. “Wait a second…I think—I think it’s a ship.”

“A _what_? Molly, you saw what the Scrubs’ star-racer looked like! There’s _no way_ they’d be able to put together something like that.”

“I’m serious, look at it! Here, lemme just…” She reached to brush some dirt off of the image of the cat-carving, which had two immediate effects.

One, Stan could now make out the subtler details on it, including small indented circles where the cat’s leg-joints would be, and ridges along the middle of its body. Two, the carvings all lit up a vivid hue of crimson. “Oh, well that’s— _different_ ,” Koji stammered out, looking around.

“I think that’s an understatement,” Stan agreed. Then he was pretty sure he felt the ground shift underfoot, coinciding with an ominous cracking sound. He had time to mutter a few choice words before the floor gave way beneath them.

It wasn’t an out-and-out  _fall_ , but more of an extremely steep slide through near-total darkness that lasted maybe ten seconds. The good news was that whatever lined the ground of where they were now was soft enough to prevent any further injuries. The bad news was that whatever it was also went up in a billowy cloud, which sent them all into a coughing fit.

“Is everyone alright?” Shiro asked after he stopped coughing, the words sounding hoarse.

“Just peachy,” Jordan replied sarcastically, and a shuffling sound implied that he was standing up now. “Of all the movie tropes to happen in real-life, it just  _had_  to be the collapsing floor one!”

It took a bit of fumbling to find one of the flashlights. It thankfully still worked, as did the other one when Molly picked it up. There was a gaping hole above them, which he assumed was where they’d come from, and a scan of the cavern showed a tunnel off to one side. “Looks like we’re going that way,” Stan shrugged.

The damp chill in the air wasn’t any better in this tunnel, even though there was a distinct lack of water anywhere, like the cavern with the carvings. “How far does this one go?” Jordan asked, pausing.

“There’s only one way to find out,” Eva said, brushing ahead of Shiro. “C’mon guys, there’s gotta be _something_ —”

She broke off with a sharp exclamation right after the older man had attempted to pull her back before she could step over the hole in the ground; not in time, though the drop was thankfully short, with a splash being heard shortly after. “Molly, are you okay?” Jordan called anxiously.

“Ugh…yeah, just a bit wet,” was her disgruntled response. A quieter “Huh?” followed, before “Whoa…guys, come look at this!” Below the tunnel was another cavern that looked a lot more spacious. And somehow better-lit with a reddish hue not unlike the one the carvings above had lit up with.

That by itself got Stan wondering just what was down there, so he carefully jumped down—and he promptly went slack-jawed when he saw it.

A series of light thudding sounds signaled the others also coming down. Koji gasped a bit, and Stan saw Shiro lurch forward a bit, stopping abruptly with a sharp wince.

“Look at the  _size_ of that thing!” Jordan exclaimed, throwing his hands up a bit for emphasis. “It’s huge!”

“It” was the single most detailed mechanical construct Stan had ever seen until then. It was primarily red in color, with silver accents—and like the main feature of the engravings in the cavern above, it was _obviously a cat_ , right down to having a black-colored nose.

“This is what they’re looking for,” Shiro said abruptly. “I’m sure of it.”

“A giant robot cat?” Koji sounded about as bemused as Stan was feeling at that. Then again…the construct’s “claws” looked pretty damn sharp. And it was either just him, or it had thrusters on the sides of its back legs, which implied that it could both move on the ground and potentially fly.

“Lion,” Shiro corrected after a few drawn-out seconds. “It’s definitely a lion.”

“Giant alien weapon shaped like a lion. Yeah, that makes a _perfect_ amount of sense.” The last part was muttered with no shortage of sarcasm, and earned a withering look from Molly.

Cautiously, they all approached the metal lion, stopping in front of the dome of red lights segmented into hexagons encasing it. The light cast off from the barrier reflected off of the water and back onto the lion, in a way that seemed _wrong_ somehow. It also had the added effect of the lion’s yellow eyes glinting, as if it were alive.

Wait, scratch that. Its eyes were glowing.

Koji flicked a pebble at the light-wall after a moment of hesitating, which bounced off with a faint pulsing sound. “Well, it’s definitely some kind of barrier. I’ve never seen anything even _remotely_ like it, though.”

“Think there’s a way through it?” Stan asked, eyeing the construct again. Whoever had built it had been _meticulous_ with their details.

“Maybe if we tried digging under it?”

“That’d take forever,” Molly dismissed, moving to rest one hand against the barrier—and in retrospect, something had been downright _bizarre_ in regards to her being the catalyst to everything leading up to that moment.

The first thing that happened was that the barrier dissipated with very little warning. The second thing that happened was that the lion’s eyes flashed, sharp and bright like a searchlight cutting through smoke.

And the next thing Stan knew, he was somewhere else altogether. If only mentally.

* * *

The first thing Don was aware of was that he had a pounding headache, and the second thing was that he was lying prone on a cold, hard surface, which had a low hum vibrating through it.

The third was that he could hear a cacophony of voices, tones varying between terrified, furious and every possible in-between. He couldn’t understand any of it, which probably meant something happened to his translator.

No sooner did he push himself up onto his knees did he hear someone ask “You awake finally?” Rick was sitting by the opposite wall, somewhat bruised and battered, and one of the lens of his shades was chipped.

It wasn’t just the two of them, either; Don recognized the Wetanian (Para-Dice, if he remembered correctly) easily enough, wide-eyed and huddled in one of the corners, as well as who he recognized as the pilot of the team from the planet Atterix; the feline/avian alien returned the gaze evenly before saying something indecipherable with a small sigh.

“Rick, what happened?” Don asked. His translator was simply _gone_ , now that he checked.

“Shiro’s  _friends_  dropped by,” was the near-toneless response. “They don’t seem to care too much for the race.”

 _Clearly,_ Don thought sardonically, moving to stand. He was promptly informed that he, at the least, had a twisted ankle. “Anyways, you were out since before I got tossed in here,” Rick went on. “You remember anything?”

“Not much.” Don recalled going to arrange for Takashi’s transportation back to Earth, but before he could even get to the port…something had exploded, or something along those lines, and beyond that was a blur. But there _was_ something else now. “Rick, where are the others?”

“I told Molly to take the others in the _Arrow_ and get out of there, and she did. Aside from that, I don’t know, but I don’t think they’re here. I haven’t heard any of them.”

That could mean one of at least three very different things. Rick was right and they weren’t here, they were just too far away from where they were to be heard, or…

Don didn’t let that thought finish. Molly was reckless—that much had become absolutely _transparent_ on the second day—but she was far from careless when the safety of the team was in question.

“One other thing.” The former champion’s voice lowered considerably now, and he glanced toward what looked like a door before saying “I don’t think we’re on Alwas anymore.”

* * *

It had hit hard and fast enough to knock the breath out of her, even though nothing had _physically_ hit her at all—an imagery barrage of five lights and white fire, burning as intensely as actual flames would—and then it stopped just as suddenly as it had started.

Well, _retreated_ would be a better word.

“Am I the only one who saw that?” Jordan asked, his voice sounding higher-pitched than usual. He looked something past disconcerted when Eva glanced over her shoulder at him and the others.

“Uh, no,” was all Stan said, looking up at the thing they’d found again.

“This is it,” Shiro breathed. “It has to be.”

Then there was a loud metallic creak from above them, which was from the lion moving to lower its head to the ground; its mouth opened to let a ramp fold down, showing a port in the back.

If that wasn’t an invitation, Eva didn’t know what was. She’d taken barely three steps up the ramp before Jordan cut in with “Uh, Molly? I’m not sure that’s a good idea—we don’t even know what this thing is!”

She turned to look back at the others. “It’s a  _giant robot lion_. I figured that’d be obvious!”

“But it—it just  _moved by itself_!”

“He has a point,” Koji cautioned, having stepped behind Stan the moment the lion had moved.

She stifled an annoyed groan. Whatever—they’d just given her a golden opportunity, and she was going to take it. “C’mon guys, don’t be scaredy-cats!”

There was a long pause, before Stan deadpanned “You did _not_.”

Shiro, meanwhile, chuckled a bit before also starting up the ramp. Jordan sputtered a little in protest, going silent when Stan and Koji—who’d just exchanged a cautious look before following—passed by.

Beyond the entryway was an open room with glowing red highlights in a few places, such as by what looked like a bunk, and near two different doors—two on the side walls and one in the back.

One of the former slid open at being approached, leading up a two-part stairway that made two ninety-degree the other way halfway up; the space above featured only a double-set of doors, which opened to reveal a smaller room, which featured a few offline consoles and a chair set in front of a set of control sticks and pedals. “It _is_ a ship,” she exclaimed quietly, half to herself.

“Okay, we looked at it,” Jordan said, glancing around. “Now can we—Molly  _now_  what are you doing?”

“I bet we can use this baby to find a way out of here,” Eva replied cheerfully, situating herself in the pilot seat. She could reach both the handles and pedals with ease, which was a plus. Heck, she’d almost say that it had been fitted specifically for her.

There was an electronic buzzing sound as the screens all came to life, highlighted bright crimson, and the larger panels in front of the seat blinked a few times before revealing an 180-degree view of the cavern outside, with a HUD overlay of some sort on top of it. One of the back consoles began running through a few screens which _looked_ like startup diagnostics, but she couldn’t be sure, given that it was in an alien language.

“Oh wow,” Koji exclaimed quietly, stumbling forward. “The control panel’s _holographic_. There’s only prototypes of those back on Earth!” He started to reach for one of the keys, though Eva made a halfhearted attempt at swatting his hand away while looking it over some more.

They were in a lion-shaped ship that was maybe the size of their team pit that was painted bright-red—definitely unusual, but she wasn’t complaining.

It was also apparently what the Galra came to Alwas looking for.

She didn’t know why _exactly_ they wanted this guy so badly, supposedly being a weapon aside, but she found him first, and wasn’t about to give him up anytime soon.

But how exactly was she supposed to get him moving? Eva looked at the different screens, before noticing one serious problem: the screens being all labeled in an alien language aside, none of the buttons on the front console had  _any_  sort of distinguishing marks. She scowled at them for a few seconds, before deciding to wing it, pressing a few random keys.

The lion adjusted in place, head now angled up towards the slant in the ceiling. There was some light filtering in there, so the stone couldn’t be very thick.

A low rumbling sound came from somewhere in the ship, sounding vaguely like a purr—presumably the engine warming up—and her fingers curled reflexively around the handles.

_That’s our way out._

“Oh, I know that look,” Jordan moaned, gripping the back of the seat, right before Eva shoved both of the control sticks forward.

There was always a few seconds before the _Arrow_ reacted to her pressing down on the pedal a bit more to go faster. The same went for the rocket-seat. It was a limitation shared by almost every vehicle on Earth.

The lion obviously did _not_ have that limitation, because it reacted _immediately_.

One second she’d moved the handle, the next the it was lunging upwards, crashing through the rock with barely any resistance, a fountain of debris spraying into the air. So no, she really couldn’t blame Jordan for reacting like that.

Insane reaction time aside, the sheer _speed_ of the lion was breathtaking. A few smaller islands and rock formations were barely even blursgoing by at that speed, but at the same time Eva was having no problems at all in redirecting the ship.

An edge, a clockwise roll, even a backflip—and that was something she wouldn’t be able to pull off very easily in the _Arrow_. Then there was a shout of “M-Molly slow down!” from Stan, almost right next to her ear, and she jumped a bit. She’d almost forgotten the others were there until then—and then her mind backpedaled to the person who’d drilled the first two tricks into her head before the race against Super-Racer (AKA Satis).

The lion was brought to an abrupt stop, and she was vaguely aware of it turning toward the general direction of the still-present smoke, before she felt a weight on her shoulder.

Eva didn’t have to look to know it was Shiro, since metal was heavier. “Hold on a second,” he said carefully. “Just charging in there wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“Why not? I think this guy’s a lot bigger than those tin-cans from last night,” she challenged.

Shiro shook his head. “That won’t matter if there’s a lot of them. They’re going to throw everything they have at us as soon as they notice the lion.”

 _They might’ve already noticed us,_ part of her realized, and she bit her lip. “Well, what’re we supposed to do then?”

“First, we have to draw them away from the planet.”

“Okay, that sounds great, but _how_ are we supposed to do that?” Jordan asked.

“We go up.” Something about the way Shiro said that left Eva feeling apprehensive.

“Up?” Stan repeated, confused.

“Up. Into space.”

 _Wait,_ what _?_

She looked around at all the monitors again. Being in an alien language notwithstanding…they all looked a _lot_ more complicated than anything the _Arrow_ had in the cockpit. Judging by the way both Stan and Koji were looking at them too, it was the same regarding the ones meant for the control room.

Then again, the _Arrow II_ was a star-racer. The lion was obviously _not_ a star-racer.

Then the meaning of _what exactly_ _Shiro just said_ hit her. “We can’t leave,” she blurted, shaking her head. “The others—they’re still down there somewhere!”

Eva did  _not_ chase her dad halfway across the galaxy just to leave him behind.

Shiro took a deep breath. “Molly, I understand that you’re worried about them, but everyone on the planet is in danger as long as the Galra are here.”

“Then we’ll just have to be really quick about looking!” The lion flew towards the smoke, slowing as they got closer to the pit area—and no sooner were they past the first smoke plume that Eva was abruptly reminded that the gray ships from last night hadn’t gone anywhere.

Which was to say, all five of the ones in the air above the buildings pivoted and started firing; she let out a surprised yelp before maneuvering the ship in a clockwise spiral around the laser blasts. She heard a _thunk_ coincide with a grunt from one of the others, followed by Koji saying “ _Please_ try to fly straight,” shakily.

Right, she wasn’t alone in here. Eva _wanted_ to say that she couldn’t really fly straight while they had five different things trying to shoot them out of the sky, but at the same time…

Flying this ship was kind of like flying the _Arrow_ , but it was also like trying to hold smoke.

“Isn’t this thing supposed to be a weapon?” Jordan exclaimed, stumbling forward to look at the control panel. “Does it have lasers or anything?”

It was coincidentally at that moment that Eva noticed the buttons on the inner sides of the control sticks. She shrugged mentally before pressing one—and flinched instinctively when a blue ray of light streaked away from the lion and hit one of the gray ships directly, causing it to go up in a cloud of fire and smoke. Jordan whistled a bit appreciatively after the other four went down the same way.

Eva remembered Shiro saying that those things were either remotely-piloted or handled by robots—it had been a little obvious with how they hadn’t reacted to the first one exploding. Either way, she wasn’t really thinking about that.

No matter where she looked and how long she stared, the souk was all but deserted. She didn’t see anything moving in the general vicinity of all the team pits, either.

“They might be somewhere away from here,” Shiro noted quietly. “But we don’t have time to check.”

“But I…” The words died in her throat when a thought struck her. Parts of the souk were still on fire. More than a few of the pits also had smoke coming up from them. And that wasn’t saying anything about the pieces of mismatched metal she could make out all over the place.

Today was supposed to be the third round of the playoffs, but there wasn’t a soul in sight. Not even at the starting area.

“Molly?” Jordan started tentatively. “You okay?”

“I—yeah,” she muttered, shaking her head. “So—this guy can go up into space?”

“Yes,” Shiro replied with some certainty.

Eva hadn’t really ever considered the idea that she’d end up flying a ship in space, but life had been throwing a lot of screwballs at her lately, and this particular one had a sort of nagging finality to it that was making her feel uneasy. “What about the _Arrow_?” she asked.

Stan and Koji both froze. “We’re not leaving her here, that’s for sure,” the former said sharply after a few seconds.

“I don’t like that idea either,” Koji started, grimacing. “But _how_ are we going to—?” He stopped abruptly when a new monitor appeared without warning, showing what looked like an empty cargo bay.

“Would that work?” Shiro asked, after a confused pause. _How did that happen?_

“It looks like it _should_ be,” Stan replied after a few seconds of staring at the screen. “I say it’s worth a shot.”

With that, the lion was brought back to the shoreline, touching down just over where their star-racer was. Eva looked over the keypad, head tilting slightly to the side as she thought it over. None of them had labels, but one of the smaller ones toward the left side just seemed _promising_ somehow.

An experimental press resulted in the bay doors opening, and a crimson-hued light similar to the gold one that the Avatar’s ship had used to pick the team up back on Earth. The  _Arrow_  was promptly lifted into the hangar, tarp covering and all.

A metallic scraping sound was heard from over the video feed, and Eva clearly saw sparks coming off from the sides of the  _Arrow_ ’s reactors. “Well…it fits,” Koji said faintly, while Stan muttered something vehemently under his breath that sounded like it included a curse or two.

The sky was a flat gray color at this point in the morning, going on and on in all directions. Eva gripped the controls a bit tighter, taking a deep breath. _Here goes nothing._

The lion leaped into the air like it was pouncing on an invisible foe, breaking the sound barrier with ease when she pushed the handles forward a little more—the sky steadily darkened from gray to black as they ascended. For a short time, the lion levelled out so that they could look back at the planet below.

Alwas was mostly ocean, and there were a few other, smaller bunches of islands scattered on the expanse of blue. Both of the moons could be seen from where the lion was floating as well. It was surreal, almost.

Then Eva heard Shiro hiss in a breath, and saw that he was staring at something else off to the side, specifically, a ship. A _very big_ ship, gray in color with mauve highlights, not entirely unlike the ship Shiro had crashed to Alwas in. One of the side-consoles beeped, and a screen appeared on the front display.

It had the effect of making Eva very acutely aware of the fact that even though the seat and everything was adjusted for her, it was still obviously meant for someone taller. The alien on the other end of the video probably rivaled a Crog in height—an image of Toros briefly came to mind—though this one had a much slimmer build and was purple in color, being vaguely catlike. Height wasn’t the only thing they had in common with Crogs, though; their eyes were the same flat yellow.

She didn’t understand a word he said, but she recognized it—and so did Shiro, of course, given that he’d replied in kind in a low voice. One of the alien’s (Galran’s?) eyes twitched, his expression twisting into something furious before the screen vanished.

Coinciding with that was a new display overlaying the distant ship, with many parts lighting up with warning flags, with the focus being an arrangement toward the bow of the ship that had just started angling to face the lion.

“What exactly did you just say to him?” Stan asked.

“Get us out of here,” was all he said in response. Normally, Eva would’ve protested at the tone he’d used by itself, but the fact that the thing now starting to light up ominously looked like a _very big cannon_ made for a good reason not to.

She pulled the handles to the side just in time—the laser that came from that cannon was _at least_ the same circumference as the scoring wheel.

It was a close-enough miss to light the cockpit up bright violet instead of Red, and got a brief scream out of someone—it was either Jordan or Koji, Eva couldn’t be too sure. Either way, it left her heart racing and was _more than enough_ of an incentive to pick a direction and fly in it.

“Where are we even going?” Koji asked after a bit, voice wavering a bit. Eva didn’t answer—she knew a grand amount of _nothing_ about navigating in space.

“Hey uh, Molly? How fast are we going?” Jordan asked then, fixated on one of the side displays, particularly the blurred white lines Eva thought might be stars.

“You think I can read any of this?” she retorted after glancing over the monitors again. _I can’t even tell if those are letters or numbers!_

He looked like he was going to snap back at her, but instead looked past her, eyes widening. “Whoa, hold on a second. Where are we?”

The lion had slowed just a bit, the surrounding space being filled with asteroids which were easily avoided, and there was a small, dusty-orange planet off in the distance.

Shiro looked at it for a few moments, before hesitantly saying “I think that’s Elpis.”

“Elpis?” Koji echoed, startled. “But that—that’s almost all the way back to Earth!”

Then something had Eva look off to the side, coinciding with both a rush of eagerness that felt _off_ somehow and a flash of blue light in the distance.

Hovering squarely between two asteroids was what looked like a sphere of iridescent shadow, encircled by an azure ring with faint patterns around it. “And what’s _that_ supposed to be?” At this point Jordan was starting to sound borderline hysterical.

She didn’t know what it was. At least, she was pretty sure she didn’t know—but something twitched in the back of her head at seeing it, wholly intent on going to ( _through_ ) whatever it was.

Everything seemed to slow for a few moments while she considered the options. They _could_ keep flying, but they’d also keep getting chased. And even if they did somehow manage to give the Galran the slip, well…leaving Alwas probably equated to withdrawing from the race anyways.

 _“Any wish,”_ Para-Dice had said. _I guess it really was just a dream, then._

Eva shut her eyes tightly, thinking _Sorry dad,_ before turning the lion in a near-ninety-degree angle and flying right into the sphere.

* * *

It was raining again by the time the Red Lion’s presence abruptly disappeared. The other ship was soon to leave as well. _Good riddance,_ Satis thought with a derisive snort, before taking in the sight of his surroundings, sighing heavily.

“What a mess,” he mused aloud. A mess indeed—there were more than a few scorch marks and craters pockmarking the landscape now, and a portion of the souk had burned down during the night.

The unpleasant view could be seen with some relative ease from where Satis was sitting on the roof of the Earth Team’s pit. The fourth floor of the housing tower had collapsed into the third due to structural damage, but it was still standing. The same couldn’t be said for many of the other structures.

Now that the ones who had caused the destruction are gone, some Scrubs and other team members were slowly creeping out of their hiding places, staring around with wide, fearful eyes.

None of them were pilots themselves. The pilots had all been taken away, their star-racers either also taken with them, or outright destroyed.

The Scrubs’ attitude toward otherworldly visitors was doubtlessly going to take a catastrophic hit because of last night’s events…and he had been told to _not do anything about those events_.

Satis had griped about that order, loudly and vehemently. The weather all across Ōban was still extremely tempestuous, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

There would only be six finalists reaching Ōban as a result of all this, but so long as there were finalists to begin with…. He shook his head. _No point in thinking about could-haves._

Molly would have been a fine successor, but he supposed the role of Red Paladin suited her just as well. At this point, all he could do was hope that she and her friends fared well during the plights they’d doubtlessly be facing.

They’d all just inherited a _far_ bigger mess than the one they’d just left behind, after all.

* * *

The room was choked in silence for what felt like an eternity, before a quiet “What in the Sam Hill _was_ that?” from Commander Iverson broke it. No one answered, if only because no one could.

Of the many years Horace McMullen had been the Coalition’s president, he’d only been faced with this particular dilemma one other time, which was coincidentally related to this one.

One of the ships of unknown origin had been identified as the same one that had been detected near Kerberos when Commander Holt’s expedition had disappeared.

As for the other…not only did the readings received by equipment on Elpis leave everyone baffled, but it had also simply up and _vanished_ , as opposed to the other simply leaving the area at a phenomenal speed.

More and more of the known lurking Crog troops have been gradually retreating over the past few hours.

The cacophony of distress signals from Alwas had long since dropped into radio silence.

Five separate attempts to contact Don Wei had come back as _no answer_.

And Takashi Shirogane had crash-landed on Alwas a mere hour before it had all started.

Without a doubt, all of it was connected—whoever had taken him and the rest of the Kerberos crew had launched an attack on Alwas without a regard for any potential counteraction from the Avatar.

That painted a frightening image, and if even the _Crogs_ were apparently considering them a threat…

No, that was not good _at all_.

He’d wait for a few more hours before trying one final time to contact the Earth’s representatives in the Great Race of Ōban—that would be his final chance to contact them on Alwas before they either returned to Earth, or moved on to the finals on Ōban.

If there was no reply whatsoever and they did not return, he would have to assume the worst had befallen them, and plan from there.

“I don’t know,” he said aloud finally in response to the commander’s words, looking over the rest of the room’s occupants. “But what I _do_ know…is that no one outside of this room is to learn of this information.”

“Sir,” Admiral Sanda began, leaning forward slightly. “What about the families of the ones lost on Alwas?”

The president sighed. “That remains to be seen. If any of them contact us, we’ll continue as planned. If not…then the necessary steps will be taken.”

* * *

The image of the Red Lion shattered the moment it vanished into the spatial rift, the feather falling back to Canaletto’s hand. It was crumpled shortly after, a furious snarl escaping him.

This should not have happened. _None_ of this should have happened.

But it had, and all of those centuries of methodological planning had gone up in _literal_ _flames_ , courtesy of one warmongering race come searching for a weapon that defied the laws of reality.

He’d thought something had been amiss when his vision of the future had become almost entirely obscured, specifically regarding the events on Alwas, but by the time it had cleared and he’d found what exactly the source of the problem was, it had been too late to do anything.

It was _unfortunate_ that the required traits for his pawn were the same things that the Red Lion looked for in a pilot.

He paced back and forth in his prison. It was too late to alter the outcome of the Pre-Selections on either Sangrar or Darwar, and none of the finalists there had a solid reason to see the race to the end and then refuse the prize.

 _And yet._ Canaletto cast a second scrying spell, this one focused on one of the soon-to-be-finalists, eyes narrowed in thought.

Now that he had reason to reminisce on it, the event that had led to him coming to know of the Lions had also provided some _intriguing_ information.

…perhaps this disaster could be salvaged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Stan/Koji are apparently in their mid-twenties, but as it's according to a forum post that no longer exists and there's no specific number for either of them, I'm taking a liberty. Personally I can see them being in their early twenties (23 and 21 respectively), so yes.  
> -I'm expanding on a detail from OSR Ep22 (Revelations) in that the _Whizzing Arrow_ has a small storage compartment reserved for emergency supplies. Because they had to get that tarp and flashlights from _somewhere_ , right?


	3. Arc I: Race's End - Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The lion-ship brings the team to Arus, where they meet two aliens belonging to a species they've never heard of…which also may not even really exist anymore aside from them, thanks to the Galra.  
> And it turns out that the Lion is also part of a set of five.

Jordan might have enjoyed the scenery that made up the inside of the weird sphere better if it hadn’t felt like being in the _Arrow_ ’s turret while the hyperdrive was engaged—if he hadn’t already been against the doors in the back, he probably would’ve been slammed against them.

It lasted for several seconds, and he immediately sat down on the floor when it was over, feeling momentarily lightheaded. Both Shiro and Koji stumbled in place from where they’d been holding onto a side-console, and Stan caught himself on the back of the seat.

“What the hell was that thing?” he asked after looking around.

“Uh, a wormhole?” Jordan suggested, standing up. _Was_ that a wormhole? It sure had seemed like one…

“That’s unlikely,” was the response from Koji. “I mean, the idea for it is consistent with the general theory of relativity, but they’ve never been proven to actually exist.” He turned his attention to the displays. “Where are we, anyways?”

Jordan took a few steps forward to see the view from the display screens for himself after getting to his feet. Aside from open space around the ship, there were a few asteroids drifting around, and there was one blue-and-green planet ahead of them—it definitely wasn’t Elpis.

It wasn’t Alwas, because there was way too much landmass, and it wasn’t Earth, because the continents were in all the wrong places.

And given that he knew little to nothing about the geography of the other planets in the coalition, Jordan had zero idea where they were.

“Does the lion have a navigation system?” Shiro asked. Molly stared at the console’s keypad, one hand hovering over the buttons hesitantly, before tapping one toward the right end of it.

A display appeared on the screen, but it was in whatever language the ship is coded in. Jordan had never really paid too much attention to the starmap lessons, but he was seriously wishing he had now. Nothing looked familiar to him out there, and the way Shiro was reviewing it implied that he didn’t recognize anything on it either.

“We must be a long way from Earth,” Shiro said finally.

There was no warning at all before the ship lunged forward again, now diving toward the planet below, and Jordan found himself having to hang on to the back of the chair along with Stan when it hit the atmosphere. “Is going down there _really_ a good idea?” Stan asked.

“Weren’t you paying attention to what I said earlier?” Molly retorted. “It’s still flying itself!”

“How, though?”

“I don’t know!”

Flames washed over the outside display before it hit a layer of frosty white clouds, with the ship ceasing to shake a few moments after a few seconds, and the first thing Jordan saw when the clouds were passed by immediately had the entirety of his attention.

Sitting on the edge of a peninsula bordered by steep cliffs was a silver-white building, accented with black and cyan, with four bordering towers following that same color scheme.

The lion made a beeline for it, coming in for a landing in the courtyard in front of what looked like the main entrance, lowering its head to the ground when it had, and judging by what Jordan could hear, it just opened up.

There was a long pause, before there was an uncertain “Maybe it has some kind of AI?” from Koji.

“Whatever the case, the lion seems to know more than we do right now,” Shiro said. “If it brought us here, there has to be a reason for it.” He led the way outside; the stone tiling of the courtyard’s floor was obviously weathered, with weeds growing between the cracks.

The sky was blue overhead and there was a fairly-pleasant breeze to counter what felt like summer heat. Had they not have been on some mystery alien planet in front of probably the fanciest building Jordan had ever seen, he would’ve called this a normal day. Said building also absolutely _dwarfed_ the lion.

Other than the sound of the ocean below, it was eerily quiet, the silence being broken only by a metallic _thud_. Jordan turned in time to see the lion’s bay doors close; the _Arrow_ had been placed on the ground.

There was barely a two-second pause before both mechanics went to check the damage dealt more thoroughly. “It’s not as bad as it sounded,” Stan reported. “The paint got pretty scraped up, but that can be redone if…” He trailed off, grimacing, and Jordan realized why seconds later.

Molly had her piloting goggles and her discman. Stan had his welding goggles and whatever he had in his toolbag. Koji had his tablet and a wrench. Jordan himself had his dog-tags. There were the emergency supplies in the  _Arrow_ ’s storage compartment. They all had the clothes on their backs—and that was all Shiro had.

In short, they were pretty strapped for supplies.

The sound of machinery moving again preceded the lion letting out a deafening _roar_ , staggering everyone and leaving Jordan’s ears ringing. The cyan highlights on the tall door lit up before the door itself slid open.

“Okay, is anyone else getting really weirded out by that thing?” Jordan asked, looking around. No one answered verbally, but both Stan and Koji looked about as uneasy as Jordan was feeling. There wasn’t anyone in the lion right now, so how had it done that?

Maybe it was an AI, like Koji said.

Or maybe it was haunted. _It better not be haunted._

“Well, what’re we waiting for?” Molly asked before starting in. Shiro chuckled a little before following her, and that really didn’t leave the rest of them with much of a choice.

In a case of _extreme_ contrast to the outside, the interior of the building was completely dark, and there was a thick coating of dust everywhere. Their footsteps echoed quietly in the large hall, at least until they reached the foot of a stairway. “I think this place is abandoned,” Stan noted, looking around. “Doesn’t look like anyone’s been here in a long time.”

As if on cue, a set of overhead lights blazed on, a computerized voice intoning something that Jordan’s translator didn’t compute before a second, blue-tinged light washed over each of them, like a scanner of sorts.

After it faded, the hallway at the top of the stairs was lit up, too. “I guess we’re considered friendlies,” Jordan said in a low tone. Good sign?

The hallway led down a few stairways, and the patch branched off into other passages more than a few times, but those areas remained darkened. “This place is _huge_ ,” Molly commented after a few minutes, when they passed by the fifth four-way intersection.

“I think you might be right about this place,” Jordan remarked to Stan after another minute, feeling uneasy at this point. Something this fancy-looking wouldn’t be abandoned for no reason.

“But why would the lion bring us here if it was?” Koji asked.

_Good question._

Eventually, the hall ended with a room that was mostly featureless, save for a small stand in the center of it, and eight circular hatches set in the floor. “Looks like a control room,” Stan noted after a minute.

Koji stepped toward the device on the center stand to study it better, before cautiously tapping a black spot in the center of the flat, angled surface of it.

The console blinked cyan a few times in response, before a hissing sound was heard from behind them, caused by two pod-shaped objects that slid out of two of the hatches.

It took a bit for Jordan to notice something about both of them—it was either just him, or there was someone in each of them. He could only make out vague silhouettes behind the opaque glass, but at this point, he flat-out had a _bad_ feeling about this.

So it only made a _perfect_ amount of sense that Molly went up and tapped on the glass of one of them. The glass immediately dissolved, frigid air flooding the room, and Molly scrambled backwards a few feet.

_Maybe_ Jordan made an undignified sound from the sheer surprise of it when the occupant stumbled out, catching herself on the side of the pod.  At first glance, she seemed human, head bowed and one hand on the edge of the pod to steady herself.

The second thing Jordan noticed were her ears, which made him think Nourasian…and then she lifted her head up to look at them, and he saw the pink markings under her eyes, which ruled _that_ out too.

The aforementioned eyes were a crystalline blue, pupils being that same shade of mauve. Her white hair stood out starkly with her darker skin, but she didn’t seem much older than they were. The tiara and blue dress implied that she might have been nobility of some sort.

Her expression was completely blank for a total of two seconds before transitioning to shock, and then she readjusted her stance to a combative one, and snapped something in that same new mystery language.

“I, uh, didn’t catch that,” Molly said, putting her hands up slightly in a placating gesture.

It didn’t seem like the alien understood what she said either, if her expression was anything to go on, but she seemed to understand the gesture. A few moments passed before the alien’s brow furrowed slightly, and she said something else, the syllables being _just_ different enough for Jordan to recognize it as Mystery Alien Language #3.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Stan fish a screwdriver out of his bag. It wouldn’t be much of an emergency weapon if it came to it, and the alien’s eyes were on it briefly, so it probably wouldn’t do much good anyways.

Mystery Alien Language #4 sounded coarser than the others, and at that point, Jordan was fully convinced that whatever planet this was, it was in some backwater corner of the galaxy.

Then came Mystery Alien Language #5, the vowels having a lilting rhythm, but it was ultimately still gibberish.

At that point, the alien regarded them all with obvious frustration, before exclaiming something that, while _still_ gibberish, apparently wasn’t to Shiro, with how he jumped.

* * *

“What exactly _are_ you, then?”

That whoever this was spoke Galran was, in this case, a blessing, even if the enunciations were different from…what he’d heard before.

Her attention had zeroed in on him when he’d started, eyes narrowing before saying “You are not Galra.”

“No,” he replied in turn. He doesn’t know much Galran—bits and pieces heard enough times to make sense of over a year coalesced into a working vocabulary, he supposed. “We’re not. We’re…human.”

She repeated the last word quietly, eyes still narrow, though now it seemed more quizzical. “Who are you, and where is King Alfor?”

“I don’t know who that is.” Better to get that one out of the way first. “And my name is Shiro.”

She’d paled in response to the first answer, but only momentarily, quickly vanishing under the professional look again, before saying “I am Princess Allura of planet Altea. How did you get here?” 

Something flickered in his head, gone before he could chase it, but it left something. “A—a red lion brought us here.”

The piecemeal knowledge of Galran he had didn’t let him word it any more eloquently than that, but if how the princess went stone-faced before turning to the console was any clue, it was enough.

She brought a screen up, rapidly typing a few things on a keyboard which preceded a video feed of the courtyard outside, and exhaled quietly. “Were you the one who flew it?”

“No. Molly did.”

Allura gave him another quizzical look, while Molly straightened a little at hearing her name; noticing the movement, the princess looked over each of them, until her attention wandered more to the side, at the other pod.

She hurried over it, opening it without pause. From where Shiro was standing, he couldn’t see that one’s occupant—at least, not until there was a short scream, followed by the occupant launching himself toward Jordan, who ducked out of the way just in time.

He stumbled when he hit the floor with an exclamation of something that sounded like “ _Quiznak_!” while windmilling his arms so that he managed to stay on his feet, whirling around to face them. There was frost coating his mustache, which was the same bright-orange as his hair.

The tirade he’d barely had a chance to start was interrupted by an amusedly-exasperated “ _Coran_ ,” from Allura.

There was a brief exchange between the two of them in the first language they’d heard from the building’s computer system, presumably Altean.

The others were staying quiet, at least—from the corner of his eye, Shiro could see Jordan eyeing them both warily, and that Stan looked tense.

Allura stepped over to the computer console after a minute, while Coran (Shiro was guessing that was his name) turned his attention to them. “Where did you come from?” he asked, using the same form of Galran that Allura had spoken in.

“A planet called Earth,” Shiro replied. “Though we were on a planet named Alwas before now.” Coran’s eyebrows raised slightly at the mention of Alwas, and Allura stopped typing to look at them again, but there was no vocal interruption. “The lion was on Alwas, and I believe the Galra were trying to find it.”

“They attacked?” There was a note of disbelief there.

“Yes.”

Coran asked something else, tone guarded and a touch uncertain, but the words used weren’t ones Shiro knew. The most he got was that the question involved if a certain event was happening.

“I do not know much Galran. I was held prisoner for several months.” Honestly, he should’ve started with that. Then an idea struck him. “I have a translation device,” he said carefully, reaching behind his neck to detach the object. It felt like pulling a bandage off, in terms of how it stung a bit, but the sensation faded after a bit.

Coran took the device swiftly, turning it over in his hands a few times in a way that indicated he knew his way around tech, before making the universal _wait-one-moment_ gesture and jogging over to a wall.

A blue screen appeared on a panel, and a light on the translator device blinked on for a few seconds, before Coran muttered something, sliding a part of the wall aside to show a few earpieces on a shelf. After seeming to count how many of them there were, before taking several and handing one to each of them.

A quiet “ _Qu’est-ce_ _que_ _c’est_?” from Stan confirmed that the device really had been a translator, and might be what the earpiece was.

Aside from beeping twice after being put on, the earpiece didn’t do anything—at least, until Coran said something else, and a small holographic screen appeared roughly a foot away from Shiro’s face, reading “This is a temporary measure until the castle’s translator figures out your language.”

“It’s a translator,” Shiro said, glancing toward the others. Only Jordan hesitated before putting the earpiece on after that.

“Right then, now that that’s settled…the Galra—you say they attacked Alwas?”

“Yes.”

“But why were you there in the first place?” Allura asked.

“I’m not entirely sure how I got there, aside from being in a ship that crashed,” Shiro admitted.

Molly picked up where he left off, thankfully. “Jordan and I found Shiro after he crashed. We’re…” She trailed off, face falling a bit before finishing, “We _were_ in the Pre-Selections, but then the Galra came in and wrecked the place, trying to find the lion, but we found it first.” The translator worked for making out what the others said too, thankfully.

Allura’s gaze sharpened. “The Pre-Selections,” she repeated. “For the Great Race of Ōban?”

“Yeah,” Stan affirmed. “We were in the playoffs, until—well, what she said.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” the alien princess exclaimed. “The Pre-Selections ended a phoeb ago!”

There was a quiet “Huh?” from Molly at that, along with a muttered "I think those things scrambled them," from Jordan.

“Ah, princess?” Coran started, having paled a few shades. “It—actually _could_ make sense, if we were in the cryopods for as long as I think we might’ve been.”

Allura stared at him for a few long moments, before whirling around to face the computer again, pulling up a new screen. Then she went rigid, a quiet, shaken “That’s…impossible,” being barely heard.

“Impossible, yet here we are.”

Allura blinked once, twice, before saying “We’ve been asleep for ten-thousand decaphoebs.”

* * *

The last time she had been on the bridge of the castle, Altea had been burning around them, a Galra fleet commanded by Zarkon himself closing in.

Altea was gone. Nalquod, Rygnirath, the entire Dalterion belt—all now marked as _uninhabited_. And to top it off, there was ten-thousand decaphoebs’ worth of backlog of distress beacons, covering nearly the entire starmap.

“It’s a bleak picture, I’ll admit that,” Coran said quietly from behind her.

A dry laugh escaped Allura. “Bleak is an understatement. There’s two of us, the castle, and one Lion.”

“One Lion’s better than no Lions. And we have a paladin for that Lion, too. It’s a start.”

She sighed. “I suppose you’re right. What did my father do after…?”

“He transferred his connection to the Lions over to you. Not sure how, he didn’t explain. Then they were sent away.”

_Just as he said had to be done._

“He put a protocol in place for when a Lion became active, for the castle to use stored energy to create a wormhole from wherever it was to bring it here,” Coran went on.

Allura tensed. “And if the Galra had been the ones to awaken a Lion?”

“For one, the castle’s security system wouldn’t have let them in. I also doubt any of the Lions would willingly take a paladin loyal to Zarkon.”

He had a point there. Though Allura wasn’t—hadn’t been—connected to any of the Lions herself, she had a basic understanding of how they functioned.

There was a pause, before Coran exhaled quietly. “He actually interfered with the Great Race.”

That revelation had been…somewhat disturbing. Ōban, even if its existence hadn’t been actually proven to them until her father had decoded some coordinates in an ancient ruin uncovered on Altea, was a sacred place. As were the three planets closest to it.

That Zarkon would even _consider_ launching an attack on one of them just proved how far he had fallen.

“Where are the…humans?” Allura asked.

“Ah, I told them to stay in one of the common rooms for the time being.”

They were a new species to her. She’d initially thought them to be Altean, until she’d realized they’d lacked facial markings, and seen that their ears were different. And the language she’d first heard from one of them—presumably their native one—was equally unfamiliar.

It would take some time for the castle’s translator to decode what they said, so until then, they had to rely on the portable translators.

Allura looked over her shoulder at him. “The one that knows Galran—Shiro—said that the Red Lion’s paladin was named…Molly, I think. Do you know which one that might be?”

“Well, I know as much about their kind as you do, which is to say nothing aside from what we saw a few doboshes ago. But given the _sound_ of the name, I’d say it’s the young lady.”

Allura dismissed the starmap without a word, starting down the hallway. The main doors opened as she approached, midday light streaming in, with a notable shadow cast by the Red Lion. There was another, smaller ship set beneath it, perhaps having been brought from Alwas, but she paid little mind to it.

The Lion was defensive before she could even start, to which she returned with the vision of destruction she’d witnessed from the bridge before her father had sent her into unconsciousness.

“You know _exactly_ what we’re going to be going up against, and yet you bring a _child_?”

_A child that has a natural talent for piloting_ was the Lion’s counter. She has untapped potential.

“Potential means nothing if you don’t live long enough to grow into it.”

The first ones to fall in the last attack on Altea had been the regiment that Commander Raible said had the most potential.

The Lion growled audibly, leaving Allura’s ears ringing. There would be _nothing_ keeping him from protecting his paladin this time.

_This time._

Allura looked up, meeting the Red Lion’s eyes. “You wanted to stay?”

No response came, but the silence was an answer in itself. Her father must have had someone pilot the Red Lion away from Altea to safety—but the only other one that Red would even _consider_ allowing to pilot him would have been…

“Princess!”

Coran’s voice jolted her out of her thoughts, and she turned to see him jogging over to her. “The good news is that, aside from all the diagnostic reports we’ll have to sift through, a full system reboot of the castle is in progress.”

“Good news?” she repeated, tensing.

Now he grimaced. “The bad news is that we’ve got a Galran battlecruiser heading straight for us.”

“ _What_?! How did they even find us?” Heat surged over the lines distinguishing herself from the Red Lion, in a way that should have felt alien, but the link had ten-thousand decaphoebs to settle.

“I’m not sure, but we have a few quintants before they get here. Give or take a varga.”

Her breath caught in her throat. One battlecruiser could very easily turn into fifty, and they would need Voltron if that happened—but they were four Lions short of Voltron at the current tick.

“Coran, what should we do?”

“I’m not sure,” he replied. “But I know someone who might have an idea.”

Coran led her into one of the deeper parts of the castle, one of the few areas she didn’t venture into very often, not saying a word until they’d nearly reached a single doorway at the end of one corridor. “Your father left this for you, in the event that things didn’t end as well as he hoped.”

Allura knew exactly what she was looking at even before it came online, the room’s walls being replaced by a field of flowers, her father in the center of it.

_“Allura. It’s been far too long.”_ King Alfor sounded weary, his smile bittersweet. If it weren’t for the fact that he was a holographic projection, Allura would think it was really him.

“Father, I—I don’t know what to do. A Galra ship is coming for us and we only have one Lion and five strangers who I can’t even understand without a basic translation device.”

_“The basic translators is how we started off with the Eridians, don’t forget,”_ was the wry comment given.

“I—guess I did forget that,” she admitted.

Alfor cleared his throat quietly. _“Allura, listen to me. You were right, all those decaphoebs ago. I made a catastrophic mistake in scattering the Lions, one that’s cost countless lives. You must be the one to assemble the Lions once more.”_

“But how? We only have one paladin…”

_“And four others that Red brought back with him. The computer files can only tell me so much, but they seem promising enough.”_

_But will the other Lions accept them?_ She didn’t ask that aloud.

That question could only be answered by the Lions themselves.

* * *

Koji wasn’t sure how much time had gone by, primarily in silence, until Jordan had finally asked “Where the heck are we, anyways?”

“I don’t know, but we could ask either Allura or Coran when we see them again,” Shiro replied. Jordan snorted a bit, and Shiro gave him a _look_ , though didn’t get a chance to say anything.

As though being mentioned had summoned them, the Alteans entered the room. Allura looked at all of them a few seconds each, gaze lingering just a little longer on Molly, before saying “Follow me.”

Koji had to remember to look at the screen to actually know what they were saying. It was definitely… _different_ than the translators they’d used on Alwas.

The room they’d been made to wait in had probably been the most retro thing he’d ever seen that wasn’t in a photograph, having a couch set into the floor—probably some kind of common room, in comparison to the control room that they’d first found.

He didn’t know what this one was supposed to be, though. It was the largest one so far, the walls being primarily black, but a large blue crystal affixed to the ceiling offered some light, more so when Allura stepped onto a slightly-raised part of the floor right below it.

“What’s she doing?” Stan asked, looking sideways at Coran.

“Trying to locate the other Lions,” was the response given. The way he said the word _lions_ implied that it was a capital-L.

“Other—wait, there’s more of them?”

“There are five in all,” Allura replied, right as the entire room lit up. It looked like the navigation screen that the Lion outside had, except blue and three-dimensional, with five markers throughout the room. One was really just a darker blue and floating almost aimlessly in front of Allura, and the red and violet ones were practically on top of each other.

Jordan squinted around the room before pointing out the latter detail. “An astute observation. That’s because the Black Lion is in the castle already,” Allura said.

“She was kept in her hangar, so Zarkon wouldn’t get to her,” Coran elaborated. “But the hangar won’t open until the Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green Lions are all present.”

_Not a very original naming convention._ That didn’t mean he wasn’t interested in seeing what the other ones looked like, though.

“Okay…so how are you gonna _get_ the other ones here?” Jordan sounded generally disinterested.

“I was just about to get to that.” There was now a glint in Allura’s eyes that left Koji feeling uneasy, but what she said after that put it out of mind. “As you’ve already experienced, the Lions choose their pilots.”

“H-Hold on a second,” he interjected. “Is that some kind of security measure, or…”

Two minutes was the average length for a conversation Koji was able to keep with someone he didn’t know, specifically the various clients the garage back on Earth got. Even then, he was _rarely_ addressed to begin with, usually being a question that needed a simple “yes” or “no” answer.

So to say that he had no idea how to actually properly address someone who was _royalty_ , the alien part notwithstanding, would be a massive understatement.

“Uh—s-sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

The look she gave him wasn’t an irritated one, at least Koji didn’t think it was, but it did seem a little…well, not quite _calculating_ , but something close to that. “That’s a good question, though also one I can’t exactly answer. My father understood how the Lions worked better than anyone else, but I _do_ know that each Lion looks for certain qualities in their pilot.”

That had an interesting implication for the AI they ran on—being sophisticated enough to make their own decisions, for one. _I’ll have to look at the Red Lion’s coding later,_ Koji decided. Or try to, at least. He wasn’t sure if his computer would be able to interface with it without an adapter.

“The Black Lion, being the decisive head of Voltron, requires a leader whose team will follow without question,” Allura went on. “The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality, and needs a pilot whose wit can complement her own.

“The Yellow Lion is the most caring of them—his pilot must be one who is willing to put the needs of others above their own. The Blue Lion is adventurous, and more prone to acting on her own whims; therefore, she calls for someone who is equally bold, and can readily adapt to whatever situation they find themselves in.” The Lions being referred to with specific pronouns could’ve been preferences by their previous pilots.

Shiro glanced up, before saying “You want us to pilot them.”

_Wait._

“H-Hold on a sec!” Stan exclaimed sharply, backing away a few steps. “I never said _anything_ about agreeing to this!”

_Wait, what?!_ A few half-thought protests ran through his mind, coming out as meaningless stutters, with the only coherent words Koji could think of being “But I’m just a mechanic!” He’d programmed the _Arrow_ ’s steering system, sure, but that was the closest thing he had to any sort of piloting knowledge.

Jordan stared at the holograms before looking before looking Allura directly in the eyes. “Lady, you do _not_ want me flying that thing. Trust me, it WILL end badly! Uh, M-Molly, back us up here!”

“He has a point,” she admitted, looking uncertain. “We’re just a racing team!”

“That may be so, Number Five…” Coran paused, glancing up at her (he’d practically bent at the hip to hold a hand flat near the top of her head; had the situation been different, Koji might’ve found that amusing) before adding, “I have you all ranked by height, but nonetheless—am I correct in guessing you flew the Red Lion?”

“W-Well…yeah, but—”

“That means it that even with a large selection of pilots to choose from, he picked you over everyone else in the competition. And given how temperamental he is, that’s saying something about your skill!” Molly didn’t say anything else, face flushing a bit.

A complex-enough AI to have a defined personality trait…that wasn’t _too_ far-fetched.

“And the rest of us?” Stan said, voice strained.

Allura sighed a little. “While it is up to the Lions themselves to make the final decision, I believe that the four of you have the necessary qualities.”

What she said after that kind of faded out, but Koji did not like where this was going at all. Nope, no way. He dimly heard Shiro asking about the Blue Lion, which Allura eyed the marker for before replying with “I can’t seem to locate it right now. It could be that the castle needs some repairs done.” She chuckled dryly. “The systems are all _long_ overdue for a maintenance check, after all.”

Well _duh_ they’d be overdue for a maintenance check—Koji knew next to nothing about how everything here was manufactured but he seriously doubted _anything_ could still be fully-functional after ten-thousand…however long a decaphoeb was.

Someone tapping his shoulder almost made Koji jump, but it was just Stan.  “Let’s just go with it for now,” he muttered, and Koji nodded after some hesitation.

Just for now.

Molly made being a pilot look _easy_ , even with an alien ship that was coded entirely in an alien language. (That was kind of strange, now that he was thinking about it.)

“I’ll get a pod set up with the coordinates for the Green Lion’s location,” Coran offered. “Then I’ll get to working on the castle’s repairs. They didn’t call me the _Coranic_ for nothing!”

…as terrible as that pun was, Miguel was generally a lot worse.

They’d turned three different corners before Molly spoke up again, asking “Uh—is there anywhere where we could keep our star-racer?”

“If by that you mean your racing ship, there’s room in the shuttle hangar.”

That was one problem dealt with, but it still left the other arguably-bigger one, which was brought up by Stan: “Getting her there _might_ be a problem.”

“Not to worry!” the Altean reassured happily. “I’m sure there’s a few cargo drones I can get in working order in less than half a varga around here…somewhere.” The last word was muttered as they went through a larger doorway into what was _definitely_ the hangar he’d mentioned—there were several identical ships lined up on either side of the room.

The nearest one turned on surprisingly fast, with Coran doing a few things with a holoscreen inside it before hopping back out. “There, all set to go.” He handed a small device to Shiro, and another one to Stan. “Those will lead you to the Lions’ exact locations. They probably won’t be out in the open, so don’t be surprised if you have to do some walking.”

“Got it.” Stan paused, coughing a bit forcibly before adding “You guys be careful out there, alright?”

“We will,” Shiro promised. “You do the same.”

It became obvious very fast that Shiro was a pro pilot, even with an alien ship. At the same time, the controls for the shuttle looked pretty simplistic. (Koji assumed they were going after the green one.)

What _wasn’t_ simplistic was how the covering for the cockpit just... _materialized_. How _that_ even worked, Koji had no idea. There was another thing he wasn’t too sure on, too. “How’re we going to get there, anyways?” he asked, glancing sideways at the rapidly-darkening surroundings.

_“The same way the Red Lion brought you to Arus,”_ Allura replied. _“Both planets are simply too far away to get to in time without a wormhole-jump.”_

Koji definitely had some questions for the Alteans now, seeing the blue flash of light preceding the formation of that same blue sphere that the Red Lion had flown through.

Such as _how that was even possible_.

It was a lot smoother this time, at least—the interior of it was as blue as the outside of it—but he still felt slightly nauseous when it was over with. That their destination was both heavily forested and had an abundance of pollen floating in the air did not help.

On top of _that_ , Coran’s parting words before they’d gone through hadn’t exactly been reassuring: _“We can only keep the wormholes open for about two vargas. The good news is that according to our reports, both planets are relatively peaceful. So if you do get stuck, they could be relaxing places to live out the rest of your lives!”_

(He had absolutely no idea what to compare a _varga_ to, either.)

This planet had the typical rainforest atmosphere, with the humidity about as bad as it got on Alwas on some days, and there was a persistent buzz of multiple insects Koji didn’t recognize lining the air; one in particular was persistently hovering by his ears no matter how much he swatted at the air around his head. The constant bird-calls were also new, varying widely in pitch.

At least Shiro was here…even though they’d barely spoken to each other, so they barely knew each other, and— _what the heck was that?!_  

He quickly ducked behind Shiro, who only flinched a little at seeing the seven-foot-tall sloth-like alien standing there. It grunted quietly at them, seemingly focused on the tracker Koji was holding, before stepping toward what looked to be a crude wooden boat, making a vague gesture with one arm.

“I think he’s going to let us use his boat,” Shiro said after a bit.

“ _You_   _think_?” Koji’s voice sounded an octave or two higher than it should have been, but his mind was too all over the place for him to think about it for long.

“I was locked up by hostile aliens for a year. Trust me, he’s being friendly.”

As much as part of him wanted to, Koji couldn’t bring himself to argue with that reasoning. The boat seemed steady, at least. And his legs felt like pudding at this point, so it was a godsend to be able to sit down.

Koji batted at the air for maybe the tenth time now—he couldn’t  _see_  the bug, but he could  _hear_  it, and it was either just his head playing tricks on him or it was getting louder, and…coming from somewhere off to the right?

Okay, maybe his nerves were starting to get to him. Today had been one giant anxiety attack waiting to happen so far, and it was probably just going to get worse before it had any chance of getting better.

But _of course_  he didn’t have time to be worrying about anything, because they had to go find the Green Lion before the Galra did, and the only real differences between this one and the Red Lion was likely the obvious color difference.

It was green, like practically everything around them.

Green, like the etchings in both rocks and trees that were lighting up as they passed by them, like the red ones had done with Molly on Alwas.

Molly _really_ made piloting look easy. She’d figured out how to fly the _Arrow—_ which was somewhat more complicated than a standard star-racer—over the span of _one_ race, disregarding the hiccup that was the hyperdrive being put to use, while using a _rocket-seat_ for a steering device in place of the standard seat.

Part of Koji was wondering how she and Stan were doing in trying to find the Yellow Lion. He was wishing that they all had time to go find the Lions one at a time, because he was  _really wishing_  Stan was here.

In all the time that he could remember off of the top of his head, they were practically never too far away from each other. There was more than probably a  _vast_ distance between where the Green Lion and Yellow Lion were—and Koji was pretty sure his brain short-circuited for a second when something touched his shoulder.

“It’s okay to be nervous,” Shiro said knowingly.

“I’m not nervous,” Koji replied immediately. It was a complete lie and he knew it and Shiro probably did too. “I’m just—it's just—I’m a  _mechanic_ , not a  _pilot_! I don’t even know how to fly the star-racer I helped  _put together_  aside from basic steering!” Shiro blinked at him, startled by the sudden outburst.

Oh,  _screw it all_.

“Fine, I am nervous!” he shouted, throwing his hands up a bit. The sloth alien glanced back at them in what might have been a concerned manner. “What if—what if it doesn’t work? It’s just been sitting out here for  _who-knows-how-long_  and probably needs repairs, and—“

“I’m sure it’ll work out fine.” His face went blank for a few seconds, before he smiled a bit. “You know, something the commander on the Kerberos mission always said was ‘If you get too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great.’”

Well, that…was a little reassuring.

The foliage on either side of the river was constantly rustling, and Koji could see shapes moving between the plants and in the shadows, occasionally pausing to watch them go by. The boat stopped at a bend in the river, and the beeping from the tracker sped up. There was a large clearing a short ways away, dominated by a large, crumbling stone structure. Thick, wood-like vines obscured the top of it—and that was practically a neon sign.

If the Green Lion was anywhere around here, it was up there.

That one bug had, bizarrely enough, followed them the entire way. The stranger thing was that it sounded like it was right in front of him now, even though he couldn’t see it.

Shiro made a “go on” gesture to him with one hand, smiling a little. The steps were considerably steeper up close, and the vines were slippery, so it took Koji longer than he would’ve liked to get to the top, partially because he was still winded from the hike, and partially because his eyes were watering a little because of the same reason his throat was all scratchy-feeling.  _Stupid allergies._

There was a nice view of the surrounding area at the top, but aside from that, there wasn’t anything else.

At least, until something made him look down.

Through the vines, he could see a barrier much like the one that had been around the Red Lion, save for being (obviously) green in color instead. It vanished almost as soon as he saw it, and the Green Lion’s eyes lit up. Clearly, it was still operational.

They probably had some sort of optical recognition system to know if something or some _one_  is in front of it, hence it turning on…although the Red Lion hadn’t activated until Molly had touched the barrier around it.

Allura had implied that the Lions could limit their own controls, dependent on who was trying to pilot it.

From what Koji understood about computer AIs, discerning someone’s entire personality on first direct contact was _impossible_ , simple as that.

It took him a minute to gather his nerves enough to lower himself onto the green-shaded metal and step inside.

Exactly one second later he’d stumbled in place at the sudden bolt of emotion that felt _strangely detached—_ something between excitement, happiness, and curiosity.

Typical ship-engine sounds aside, the Red Lion had been silent—but the Green Lion almost sounded like it (she?) was purring, the sound coming from seemingly nowhere.

* * *

At this point in time, Stan was one-hundred percent convinced that the Altean definition of “peaceful” was the opposite of the human definition, because they’d been jumped by a whole swarm of those gray ships as soon as they’d even gotten  _close_  to the large asteroid.

He tightened his grip on the back of the seat when the Red Lion rolled to the side to avoid another laser barrage. Molly briefly glanced over her shoulder at him, asking “Are we near him yet?”

Stan checked the tracker. “We should be, but I don’t see anything!”

“Maybe he’s underground like Red was?”

“Maybe.” That’d make sense, actually, but it left one glaring problem—the entire ship shuddered when a few blasts made contact, plunging toward the ground. Molly pulled back on the steering handles hard, and the Lion righted itself almost immediately, rocketing through a narrow canyon that opened up into a large quarry after a few seconds.

He almost didn’t notice that the Red Lion wasn’t flying anymore, but instead running. The transition had been _that_ seamless.

There was large machinery scattered around, with the most being grouped by a single opening on the other end of the clearing. By the look of it, they might’ve figured out the Yellow Lion was here and were trying to look for it themselves.

“I don’t think Red’s gonna fit in there,” Stan noted, eyeing the rapidly-approaching cavern entrance.

“Well, maybe I could just—huh?” She muttered the last word, looking almost confused. Stan didn’t get a chance to ask if anything was wrong, though, because the next thing he knew, he was falling, and then tumbling roughly on the rocky ground.

Stan stayed there on the ground for a few seconds, stunned, before a worryingly-close-sounding explosion convinced him to get up. The Red Lion was crouched close by, effectively acting as a barrier between him and the Galra ships—but that sure as hell didn’t mean he was okay with what had just happened.

“Yeah, just—just throw me into the middle of all of this,” he muttered crossly to himself, running for the cavern. At first glance it looked like a dead-end, but a look at the floor showed it to be some kind of lift, with the control panel being off to the side.

Nothing displayed on the screen made any sense, but the wiring in the panel itself looked similar enough to what Stan was familiar with; it was moving a minute later, with the Red Lion jumping back into the air, the swarm tailing it.

They’d gone from having an overbearing manager in a competition that _had been_ the craziest thing Stan had even considered going along with, to having some alien princess telling them to go fetch a giant robotic cat from a hostile planet.

The whole lift shaft rattled when another explosion sounded somewhere back up by the entrance. “I never signed up for this shit,” he hissed, glancing over the edge of the lift.

It didn’t go as far down as he’d been expecting, though that also meant it was still close enough to the surface for there to be some skylights in the ceiling of the cavern. Several tunnels branched off in different directions, looking too neat to be natural, with purple lights strung along the support beams.

Picking a few at random led Stan to the conclusion of everyone in here having gone out when they’d shown up—not that he was complaining about that. According to the tracker, the Lion was somewhere to the right.

Which would’ve been great, if there hadn’t _not_ been any tunnels going that way.

He heard a muffled explosion, dust being shaken loose from the ceiling, and he glanced up for a few seconds. Was Molly okay up there? The Red Lion was obviously made from some kind of extremely-resilient materials, but nothing could hold out forever.

_Maybe I’m missing something,_ he thought, looking around again. The lighting honestly wasn’t the best, so there were weird shadows everywhere. One of those shadows moving suddenly almost made him jump, but it wasn’t…well, he wasn’t sure what a Galra even looked like, but he _seriously_ doubted it was what he was looking at now.

It looked kind of like a ferret, if a ferret could be the size of a large dog, though its ears were more like a rabbit’s, and hooked claws that he could see pretty clearly. For a few seconds it just sniffed around the wall before noticing him there, staring for two seconds before bolting…into the wall.

At least, that was how it looked—there was actually a small opening by the ground, just big enough to crawl through, which led into another part of the cave. Which was completely dark.

Hopefully the flashlight he’d held onto without really thinking much about it didn’t lose its charge.

Picking another tunnel at random led through a couple twists and sharp turns before opening up into a second sub-cave, distinguishable by a single stalagmite in the middle of it, and five more tunnels.

The second random choice led back to the first one, and rapid light footsteps signified that there were more of those ferret-rabbit things in here. Hell, those things were probably how this whole cavern system even existed. It had just been opened up more by the Galra in their apparent attempts to dig up the Yellow Lion.

But that didn’t mean it was any less of a natural maze.

The second option went in one giant circle. The third one led out to a third area that only had two options—one being a dead-end, and the other leading into the second room. Tunnel #4 went back to the first room.

Stan actually felt one eye twitching a bit when he saw the crawlspace leading back to the mine half of the cavern, and stumbled when the ground shook again, harder this time.

It was a _pleasant_ reminder as to what kind of situation Molly was in right now—but then again, he’d already seen more than a few cases of her out-flying pro racers. _She’ll be fine for a few more minutes._ But if he didn’t find this thing within the next half-hour, he was heading back out.

Option #5 led to a fourth room, which had another new set of tunnels, the first of which went to another dead-end. He let out an exasperated groan before going to try the second tunnel over…which just went right back to the first room  _again_.

At that point, Stan turned and punched the wall in frustration, _the action being regretted as soon as the decision to make it had come_ , before he backtracked to the fourth room.

None of them had any distinguishing marks between them, and for all he knew, there could be multiple other sub-caverns like this one that all went in circles.

He was seriously hoping Koji was having an easier time than they were. It was a good thing the Green Lion wasn’t here, because Koji would _not_ do well in this kind of situation at all. It wasn’t like Stan himself was doing any good right now though…and then he paused abruptly, attention catching on one of the pathways.

Specifically, the fifth one from the right, with a sudden clarity that wasn’t unlike someone having pointed it out aloud.

As _weird_ as a hint it was, Stan wasn’t about to ignore it. He almost missed the crevice in the wall that was just barely wide enough for him to slip through, and a glance at the tracker showed it to be going in the right direction.

It was doubly proven when the walls of the hidden passage lit up yellow at various points.

There was a small slope and one right turn before stopping short. He’d had a basic idea on what the Yellow Lion looked like, but he wasn’t expecting for it to be bigger than the Red Lion. By quite a bit.

If the red one was optimized for speed, _this one_ was built like a tank and meant to take hits.

Stan shook his head a bit. He could think about how this one was put together later. First of all, he had to figure out how to _fly it_.

The barrier dropped as soon as he’d touched it, and the Lion letting him in quickly, moreso than how the Red Lion had first moved. The interior was pretty much identical to the Red Lion’s, too, save for the difference in color when it came to the displays.

From watching Molly, he figured that the handles were the steering, and the pedals were…what, brakes? Thrusters? Both? He hadn’t really been able to tell, and the thought of asking hadn’t occurred to him then. _Whatever._

Pulling the handles back resulted in the Yellow Lion leaping up at the ceiling of the cavern, plowing right through the bedrock like it was nothing more than mud—and right into the path of something that exploded against its back, though the Lion barely budged.

A screen appeared on the center display; Molly appeared both ruffled and miffed, but she was otherwise okay, and Stan heard himself sigh.  _“Took you long enough,”_ she said tetchily.

“Blame the maze,” Stan replied, before scowling. “Was it _really_ necessary to throw me out like that?”

_“That wasn’t me!”_

“What, so it was the Lion?”

_“Well—yeah. I think.”_

…okay, now this was starting to get ridiculous. “So what you’re saying is that Red’s not only flown himself a few times, but also made his own decisions.” Molly didn’t reply, looking intently at the Red Lion’s dashboard instead.

Something really did seem weird about all of this, though. Like how Coran had seemingly implied that the Lions went and picked their own places to hide all that time ago, and…and how a small background part of him (at the same time it didn’t really seem like it was himself) seemed to flat-out accept that the Red Lion had thrown him out like that, in a way that it _made sense_ that it happened.

Something was definitely weird about that. Then again, Allura and Coran had also talked about the Lions like they were people and not machines.

Molly looked up again, seeming to notice something, before saying _“And, um, your cut reopened.”_

“Huh?” He placed two fingers next to his right eye, and the skin there stung at the contact; the fabric of his glove came away red. Stan hadn’t noticed that the gauze had come off, probably during the tumble. “Oh. Well, that can wait until we’re—” He was interrupted by something shooting by on the display screens.

_“Oh great, they’re back,”_ was the sarcastic comment given to that. _“We better get out of here!”_

* * *

Jordan was used to the ambiance on Alwas. The weird birds, the wind in the nearby trees, the distinct sound every star-racer within earshot of the team pit made, the gong from the Starting Area, the sounds of power tools being used—but right now all he could hear was a few consoles beeping quietly now and then.

Two “vargas” was the time limit for the others. The translator hadn’t touched that word, which meant it didn’t have a close-enough meaning to a human word.

So Jordan actually wasn’t sure how long the others had before they were trapped wherever they’d gone to.

It wasn’t too boring, though. Particularly after the mice had shown up; Jordan figured they must’ve been pets or something, with how Allura reacted to seeing them.

He broke off from the staring contest he’d been in with one—specifically the one with periwinkle fur and blue eyes, dubbed what sounded like Chulatt—and turned to look at Allura before asking, “So uh…how do those wormhole things even work?”

He doubted he was going to understand the answer, but it was just  _too quiet_ , and something was pinging away in the back of his head—something important, but he couldn’t quite think of what it was.

Allura glanced sideways at him before replying, “The teludav generates an electromagnetic pulse that’s directed to a specific point in space. The destination is calculated at the same time.”

Yep, none of it made sense.  _Teludav_  wasn’t touched by the translator either. “It sounds kinda complicated.”

She smiled a bit. “I don’t completely understand it myself. Coran knows more than I do. He’ll have to teach you about all of the primary systems, in case something happens.” Her voice faltered at the end, and now Jordan was starting to consider smacking himself.

As much like Nourasians that they looked and as much as that automatically made him wary of them, he had to remember that she and Coran  _lost_   _their_   _entire planet_  ten-thousand years ago and only pretty much just found out and might be the last Alteans alive.

He might as well give them a chance. Or at least try to. “Stan and Koji would probably get it more than I would,” he said after some thought.

“So they’re the technical ones, then…what about you, Molly, and Shiro?”

“Molly’s, well…” Molly was as stubborn as a mule once she got set on an idea—a lot like Don Wei, actually.

Sometimes it seemed like she wasn’t sure how to interact with them—Jordan had witnessed a few attempts at her trying to talk to Stan and/or Koji that had always ended with an awkward silence.

Whenever Jordan himself had talked about his family (did they even know where he was going?) she would get a faraway look in her eyes, which more often than not left him feeling worried.

Jordan wasn’t sure how much she’d be okay with him sharing, so he instead asked, “When you were going on about the Lions and how they pick certain people—what about the Red Lion?”

Allura raised one eyebrow a bit before replying, “Like Coran said, he’s the most temperamental of them—but he’s also faster and more agile than the other four. The Red Lion needs a pilot that relies more on instinct than skill alone.”

“That does sound a lot like Molly. She can be a little…explosive, sometimes. Though I—I guess she’d probably be able to understand how the, uh, wormholer works too.”

He kept forgetting that she’d gone and modified the _Arrow II_ behind all of their backs on Alwas, so that she could use her rocket-seat in place of the standard seat.

“And Shiro, he was one of the best pilots in the Garrison, before Kerberos happened. That’s when he and his team disappeared.” That had also been when Commander Romain gave up on having someone teach Jordan how to pilot something, because Shiro was supposed to have been his next flight instructor.

Which brought to mind the thing (at least, one of them) he’d been meaning to say to Allura, and it was a good thing that he’d just found that it was actually easier to talk to her than he’d initially thought it would be—but before he could say anything, there was a beeping sound from the display screen, and the pod that Coran had set up appeared through one of the wormholes.

It was followed by what was _definitely_ the Green Lion, which was set down in the courtyard where the Red Lion had previously been, and not even a minute after, it was followed by the other two from the other wormhole, and the Yellow Lion was bigger than both of them.

The fact that their  _mechanics_ were flying those things struck Jordan as  _bizarre_ , because he clearly remembered when Don had tried convincing them to be the stand-in pilot for Rick, and…had he and Rick made it out of that mess okay?

Jordan hoped they did, and that they were safe on Alwas. Or maybe Earth, since they were _definitely_ out of the race, given that they’d brought the _Arrow_ with them—and now he was anxious about what was going to happen when they saw Don again.

The Red and Green Lions were roughly the same size, being almost identical save for the color difference and the green one having a shield on its back, but the yellow one was bigger than both of them.

If he had to guess, the Blue Lion was the same size as the Yellow Lion. And boy if _that_ didn’t unnerve him even more.

Jordan took a deep breath, and metaphorically ripped off the bandage: “I can’t be a pilot.”

Allura turned to look at him directly now, not taking her hands off of the two pedestals, her relieved expression being replaced by confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I wasn’t kidding when I said you don’t want me in that thing!” Jordan exclaimed. “My first flight instructor  _retired_ after trying to teach me, and he’d been in the Garrison for years!” Not to mention the thought of being in a pilot’s seat just…freaked him out. A lot. And—

“The Blue Lion is all the better of a match for you, then.” His train of thought was promptly derailed. “She’s the most free-spirited of them,” Allura went on. “Like I said before, her pilot must be someone that isn’t too controlling over her actions. She’s more prone to acting on her own whims.”

Jordan stared at her, processing the meaning of that, before deciding that destiny must be hellbent on punching him in the face today. _It flies itself. I’m not gonna bother asking how._

The door opening got Jordan to turn around in time to see the others file back into the room. “Peaceful my _foot_ ,” Molly spat irritably, looking around in what was probably a search for Coran.

“I’m going to assume you had some trouble,” Allura guessed.

“A bit,” was all Stan said. The gauze that had been on his face was gone, and that cut had clearly reopened at some point if the dark-red smudge on his face was any hint. There were dirt smears on his face and arms as well.

“Any luck with the Blue Lion?” Shiro asked.

“Not yet,” Allura replied, briefly scowling a little at the holoscreen. “I’ve scanned all of the planets she likely would have been on, but she’s not on any of them.”

There was a brief silence before Koji said “I don’t get it,” in a tone somewhere between puzzled and disbelieving. “The—the Lions, I mean. The controls for them are obviously complicated, but it’s like they’re designed to be simple at the same time.”

“He’s got a point,” Stan agreed. “And I can’t understand a single word on any of those screens, either.”

_I think we knew those things defied logic already,_ Jordan thought, glancing between the others. Then his head backtracked to the thing Allura said that had stuck. “H-Hey, wait a second—you said the blue one was _more prone_ to flying itself. What do you even _mean_ by that? Are they alive or something?”

Allura was suspiciously quiet.

“Are they?” he repeated, looking at her.

“In a way, yes,” she answered finally, seeming distant. “My father never understood how it happened to begin with, just that the Lions developed minds of their own at some point during their creation. Haven’t you noticed?”

The room was completely silent for a few seconds, and then everything figuratively exploded.

“Wait, seriously?!” Molly exclaimed—Jordan was _really_ not surprised at how excited she looked about that. Shiro’s eyebrows had almost vanished into his hairline, and Stan had this weird look on his face that gave the impression of being distracted by something.

Koji just stared at her for a few seconds, looking like he’d thought he’d misheard her, and Jordan could tell the exact moment the technician realized he _hadn’t_ misheard that. He never got a chance to start ranting about it though, because then the door opened again and Coran bolted in, face pale and expression something akin to sheepish.

“Ah, princess?” he started, tugging on the collar of his suit a bit. “I may have made a _slight_ miscalculation when it came to the Galra battleship’s ETA to Arus. It’s orbiting the planet as we speak.”

“They followed us?” Shiro’s voice had an edge of alarm to it, matching the others’ expressions. Allura’s expression darkened, turning back to the holoscreens and bringing up a display of the battleship.

Then things happened almost too fast to process.

First, the Altean’s shoulders tensed, and Jordan heard a quiet “Oh,” from her. Then one of the big display screens at the maybe-front of the room flickered and was replaced by a video feed, showing a purple-furred alien that had one pupil-less yellow eye that reminded Jordan of a Crog’s, and a red bionic one to go with it.

_“Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire,”_ he said briskly, in an all-business tone. _“I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe. I am here to confiscate the Lions. Turn them over to me, or I_ will _destroy your planet.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Considering that we never got much in terms of defined personality for either Stan or Koji, I’m going to be building off of what little we do know, and making up a bunch of stuff as I go.  
> I do have a spinoff fic of sorts planned for this that’ll focus on them. It currently exists as a one-shot that’s here on-site under the name “Amelioration,” but if you do take a look at it, know that it’s slated for a rewrite/upgrade into an actual fic that’ll be better-paced.


	4. Arc I: Race's End - Innocence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team's first mission is to infiltrate a Galran battleship to retrieve the Blue Lion. In terms of finer details, on top of them needing to know if it is the same one from Alwas, Jordan has to figure out how to fly something, and then they have to actually _take the ship down_.  
>  Then comes the almighty revelation of just how far away they are from home.

No one moved or said anything for what felt like hours after the screen vanished, until Stan said “Well this can’t possibly get any worse.”

“I’m afraid it can.” Allura looked grim. “Sendak has the Blue Lion on his ship. That’s why I couldn’t find her.”

“Oh, well that’s just _great_ ,” Jordan exclaimed sarcastically. “Now what are we supposed to do?”

“Now, we come up with a plan.” Shiro did a quick scan of everyone’s expressions—borderline panic all around. “And we need one quickly.”

“Well, they have the Blue Lion on that ship, so—maybe we can just sneak on and get her?” Molly suggested hopefully.

“That’s a decent idea in theory, but realistically it’d be suicide,” Koji replied flatly.

“We can’t just  _run_ , though!”

“Running might be safer,” Stan argued.

“And they’d probably just follow us again!” Jordan retorted. “I say we take ‘em on!”

“That’s enough!” Shiro cut in sharply, before the situation could devolve even further, and turned to Allura. “Princess, you’ve dealt with the Galra before. What do you think we should do?”

“What we’re _not_ going to do is abandon Arus,” she said sternly. “Even if we did flee the planet, I wouldn’t put it past one of Zarkon’s commanders to destroy the planet either way.”

Silence met her words, and a small part of Shiro agreed with her completely. “Infiltrating the ship might actually be the best way to go,” he mused after some thought, earning one surprised and three incredulous looks.

“How would we even get on there?” Koji asked. “It’s all the way out in space.”

“We have three Lions,” Molly pointed out.

“Three sentient giant robotic cats against one alien warship that’s both bigger and has more firepower,” Stan summed up, sounding cynical. “I don’t see how that’s going to end well.”

“It will if we play it right,” Shiro asserted.

The Lions were sentient. It sounded like it was right out of a sci-fi/fantasy book or movie, but it would maybe explain the strange sensation he’d been getting ever since they’d first entered the castle—like something was trying to get his attention, albeit hesitantly. _The Black Lion?_

He shook his head. Now wasn’t the time for that. “They know we have the Red Lion already, and I’m guessing it was the Galra giving you two trouble with the Yellow Lion?”

“They didn’t give us _that_ much trouble,” Molly said. “I could’ve out-flown those guys with my eyes closed.”

“Good, because you and Stan will be acting as decoys.”

“ _What_?! Why?”

“The Galra know about the Red and Yellow Lions already, but they  _don’t_ know we have the Green Lion,” he explained. “Sendak will have to be kept distracted so the rest of us can get on.”

That, and he wanted to actually _see_ how she handled piloting before even putting her _close_ to being in harm’s way. (The time on Alwas showed that she knew the basics, but the situation had been far from ideal for an actual assessment.)

“I…I guess that makes sense,” she muttered irritably in response, crossing her arms and looking off to the side.

“Once we’re on board, do whatever you can to take out that cannon.” That was the secondary reason why Stan was also on the distraction half: breaking things went along with putting them together. “Does anyone have any questions?”

“Uh, yeah,” Jordan spoke up. “How are we going to find the Lion? That ship’s gigantic.”

“I can set up a tracking device to lead you right to her,” Coran piped up. Jordan still didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t protest any further.

“Okay, but that doesn’t solve the problem of _how_ we’d even get on there,” Koji reminded. “We don’t have any equipment, either.”

“Actually, we do,” Allura said, eyes gleaming. “Follow me.”

Down the hall and a few sets of stairways was an open room that seemed to be an armory of sorts, with a short hallway on one wall and five cases along another, each holding an identical-save-for-colored-accents uniform.

First and foremost, it looked more like some futuristic armor than a flight-suit, and felt like it too. Shiro wasn’t sure what the white outer parts were made of. While light, they felt pretty solid.

And while he’d seen _a lot_ of alien tech over the past year—at least, what bits and pieces he could remember of that year—self-fitting armor was a new one. The red-accented one would  _not_  have fit Molly otherwise.

(Shiro abruptly remembered that she was fifteen.)

“I feel ridiculous,” Stan muttered, pulling at one of the gauntlets a bit, before glancing back over his shoulder. “Koji, what’re you doing?”

“The helmet won’t go on right,” was the response given, the words sounding clipped.

Coran seemed to realize what the issue was in seconds. “The visor will compensate for any ocular deficiencies you have. They can also act as binoculars if the situation calls for it!” Koji returned from the set of smaller rooms down the side corridor shortly after, looking more awkward about it all than anything else.

Allura was standing by a horizontally-set container, which opened at her touch to reveal four semicircular objects. “The bayards were specially crafted for the Voltron Paladins. Each one takes a distinctive form, unique to its wielder.”

Jordan peered dubiously at them. “Sure doesn’t look like much,” he muttered, picking up the blue one. It flashed brightly moments later, changing form near-instantly into a standard handheld laser-cannon, albeit white with black and blue accents. His face lit up once the initial shock had passed, adjusting his grip on it—he clearly knew exactly how to handle it. “I take it back—this thing’s awesome!”

The green one took the form of a dagger, which Koji held more like it was a shard of glass. The yellow one seemed to be some sort of blaster, vaguely resembling a scattergun. Stan seemed more resigned about it all now, if also uneasy.

The red bayard became a recurve bow, complete with a fluorescent string. Molly regarded it with a distant look, until a snarky-sounding comment of “Oh, now where have I seen  _that_ before?” from Jordan earned him a full-blown glare.

There didn’t seem to be a black bayard, and Allura confirmed it: “Shiro, I’m afraid your bayard was lost with the former Black Paladin.”

“I guess I’ll have to make do,” he replied, smiling a bit—he remembered enough from the self-defense classes in the Garrison, and he could  _probably_  pull off one mean left hook now.

“Your bayards can be stored in your suits until you need them,” the princess said once they’d arrived back on the bridge, which earned four bemused looks.

“Just think about putting them away,” Coran added, twirling his mustache. Still seeming mystified, the other four paused, and startled when the bayards vanished in blinks of light.

Sensing that the conversation was about to veer  _far_ off-track, if the expressions of the two engineers were any indicator, Shiro intervened. “Alright, so we already went over the start of the plan. Stan, Molly, you both are going to act as a diversion—pretend to give yourselves up. The second things start looking hairy, get out of there.” They both nodded in response.

“It looks like your best option for getting onto the ship would be through the engine room,” Coran noted, pointing at a section on a hologram of the Galran battlecruiser he’d pulled up. “While they’re a lot faster than what they used to be, it looks like they haven’t changed the design much, if at all. The hull shouldn’t be too thick there.”

“Then that’s our entry point,” Shiro decided. “Let’s get moving.”

They’d made it back to the courtyard before Koji paused, hesitating before saying “You guys just—just be careful, okay?”

“I think we’ll be okay,” Stan replied, gesturing at the Yellow Lion before adding “That guy’s practically a tank.”

“They’d have to catch me first,” was Molly’s confident-sounding remark. “You guys just worry about  _not_  getting caught.”

* * *

It felt like everything was going by too fast to even _think_ about at this point, at least for Koji, what with all the new information that had just been dropped on them.

Like the Lions being _sentient_. It sounded absolutely ridiculous, but the faint, detached sense of amusement that was nipping at the back of his head clearly indicated otherwise. (And there was a little divot in the dashboard with a clip on it that was a perfect spot to put his glasses that DEFINITELY hadn’t been there before.)

Ridiculous, but it somehow made sense at the same time. That he already had the basics on how to even steer the Green Lion down was one thing, but having a vague idea on what each button on the keypad did was another.

Coran had continued to go over some of the various functions the outfits they had been given had over the comm, with one of them being put to use as soon as the Green Lion was in position on the underside of the Galra ship—the visor of the helmet automatically extended into a mask right before the Lion’s jaw-compartment opened, coinciding with a sudden lack of artificial gravity.

Koji nearly panicked when there was suddenly  _nothing_ around him, until he saw Shiro maneuver himself to the surface of the Galra ship’s underside with the assistance of the jetpack, AKA the other thing Coran had been very clear about mentioning.

It was honestly a miracle in itself that this uniform was so lightweight.

“Just jump,” Shiro called up to them. “It’s not as scary as it looks.”

Jordan audibly swallowed before doing as such, the jetpack sputtering a bit. Koji waited a few seconds before tentatively doing the same, yelping a bit in surprise when he was propelled forward without much warning, and the other two reacted just quickly enough to catch him before he smacked into the hull of the battlecruiser.

Psychically-activated functions—that was another thing to add to the list of _actually-possible_ things he’d encountered so far today. Then, all he could really do for a few moments was just stare at everything around them, because he was actually  _in space and not in a ship of any kind_.

There were no alarms going off or anything, which was a good sign, but he hadn’t realized just how  _colossal_  the Galra ship was up close. It was easily twice the size of a standard skyscraper, if not larger.

_“You guys in yet?”_ Stan asked over the comm.

“Not yet,” Shiro replied. “Fly a little slower.”

_“Got it.”_

Shiro was studying a schematic on the holoscreen provided by one of the gauntlets—they were miniature computers with holographic display screens, linked directly to the castle’s computer systems, hence how they even had a schematic of the battlecruiser to begin with.

Maybe he and Stan could help Coran with some repairs after all of this. It’d give him a chance to look at how everything was coded, for one. Then again, that was if they all lived through this.

There was a near-physical sensation akin to someone nudging him lightly no sooner than that thought was through his head, accompanied by what sounded like purring. He wasn’t even _in_ the Green Lion right now!

Then he found his attention directed to the look both Shiro and Jordan were giving him, and it took a few seconds for it to click. Out of the three of them, he was the only one with a sharp object.

The bayard pretty much jumped into his hand as soon as he thought about it, the fluorescent green blade materializing moments later. In the dimmer lighting, Koji could see the edges of it crackling faintly with the threatening promise of an electrical shock. It was also _extremely_ sharp, as proven with how easily it cut through the metal.

Through the misshapen hole was indeed some kind of generator room, with large, violet arcing bolts of electricity to the left and a jagged cylindrical object to the right.  _“How about now?”_ Stan asked again, sounding nervous.

“We’re inside,” Koji confirmed quickly, before asking “Why?”

There was a minute’s pause before the answer came. _“Came close to the plan getting screwed up.”_  Koji had a pretty good (not good) idea on what Stan meant by that.

The only way out of the generator room led into a hallway, lit by a purple light that was somehow both too dim and too bright at the same time. “Now what?” Jordan asked once they reached an intersection, glancing at the tracking device. “The most I’m getting from this thing is _go right_ , but...uh, Shiro?”

Shiro jumped a bit at hearing his name, having been staring almost blankly down the hall, before replying, “I’ve…I’ve been here before. After my team and I were taken by the Galra cruiser off of Kerberos. I-I don’t think it’s the same ship, but it was just like this one.”

“Wait, seriously?” Jordan had whirled around to stare at Shiro with wide eyes. Shiro nodded mutely in response, which got a not-quite-shouted question of “Then—you’d know where they’d keep prisoners, right?” That statement in itself sent a very unpleasant jolt through Koji.

“We don’t have time,” was the stern response. “There’s too much of a chance for all of us to be captured if we get sidetracked.”

“But what if—what if this  _is_ the one from Alwas? Rick and Don might be here!”

“Jordan’s right.” Koji almost hadn't been aware that he’d said anything. Any fretfulness he’d had about this entire situation was back in full-force, but for a completely different reason now.

If whatever happened to Shiro was any indicator on what the Galra did to their captives…well, that was a whole other can of worms that he had to forcibly turn his thoughts away from.

Shiro himself still seemed firmly against it, but Molly drove the final nail in before he could say anything.  _“Shiro, if you guys don’t go looking for them,_ I will _. Got it?”_

For an indeterminate amount of time, it was silent. Koji had very little doubt that Molly meant what she said then; he’d never heard her sound  _that_ serious before.

Shiro sighed quietly, conceding. “Alright, alright…Jordan, you go find the Blue Lion. Koji, you’re with me—I have an idea on where the prisoners might be.”

Jordan tensed. “H-Hang on, I’m going by myself?”

“Just be aware of your surroundings, and run when you have to. Try to stay undetected for as long as possible, alright?”

“But I—“

The sound of a door hissing open cut the conversation short; they immediately bolted in the two directions the sound hadn’t come from. When they reached a point where the hallway branched again, a small gray pyramidal robot hovered in front of them. It stopped, the small light acting as the lens in front of it blinking once.

Shiro was quick to launch a small plasma bolt at it via the wrist-mounted blaster, which caused it to fall to the floor, sparking erratically. “That thing will have alerted the security system. We need to get moving.”

Or Koji could just deactivate it before it rebooted and bring it back with them. It’d be a good idea to familiarize himself with how Galra tech worked, after all…and it took a few seconds for him to realize that the Lion had just suggested that somehow.

Sentient and _telepathic_.

Maybe that would work out for the better in the end. He had a nagging feeling that he’d _need_ to know how these things were put together.

“Just a second,” he muttered, crouching and opening the panel on the side of it. “Maybe I could…oh, wait.” If there was one thing he really hadn’t been expecting to see here, it was a setup he _recognized_.

One part of the machinery was obviously a transmitter, so that definitely had to go. If his theory was correct, all he needed to do was reset the controls, via the button on the core part of the drone. The lights of it blinked a few times once the panel was closed, before glowing teal instead of burgundy.

“What did you do to it?” Shiro asked, perplexed.

Koji moved his hand to adjust his glasses out of habit, only to flinch when he instead tapped the visor. “I recognized the general setup of it,” he explained. “I honestly thought they would’ve made their security system a bit more complex.” Shiro looked lost, still, so Koji clarified it with “Let’s just say that they won’t be hearing anything from this thing anymore.”

“Nice thinking.” There was one heavily-reinforced door at the end of the hall, and Shiro visibly suppressed a shiver when they got closer to it. The repurposed drone floated up to the panel beside the door, which flashed green before the door itself slid open.

Inside were half a dozen individuals, who all flinched away—save for one of them, gray-skinned with a singular antenna on top of his head, who gasped a bit in surprise. “Champion?” he asked, sounding incredulous.

A look of disquiet crossed Shiro’s face, and it was one Koji has seen a few times already—he was trying to remember something, but couldn’t. “What did you call me?” The alien ignored the question, or maybe didn’t hear it; he whispered something too quietly for Koji to hear to the others instead.

The drone chirped from behind them, and then Shiro was back to attention, giving the suggestion/order of following them. Koji looked over the other occupants carefully, but none of them were in any way familiar.

He felt both relieved and dismayed at that.

* * *

By this point, Jordan was seriously wishing he had an actual map of this place. Yeah, he had the map that was on the gauntlet’s holoscreen, but it only showed the areas closest to the outside of the ship. There was one large space that looked promising, and the tracking device was pointing him in that general direction, but the matter of _how to get there_ was the main issue.

He’d already lost count of just how many times he’d run into a dead-end, or wound up going in a circle, _or_ had to duck around a corner to avoid being seen. It was either just him, or most of the grunt work on this thing were done by robots—they looked just like the thing that had been in the ship Shiro had crashed on Alwas in.

Considering what they were probably going to have to do to the battleship as a whole, that was probably a good thing. The Galra seemed like some seriously bad news, the more he was learning about them, but it was still a jarring thought.

Jordan stopped to take cover in another hall when he heard heavy footsteps approaching, and kept going once the sound was gone, glancing at the tracker again. Straight ahead, now.

What he’d been trying to think of earlier had finally come around and hit him after they’d split up—they might’ve just gotten yanked into a war that had been going on for a _very_ long time. (Something was really suspicious about that, given that they were just learning about it _now_.)

One hard right at a particularly-large doorway later, he stopped short, any thoughts abandoning him then and there.

The Blue Lion was _big_. Then again, he’d already gotten the idea that it (or she, Allura had been pretty insistently referring to this one as a _she_ ) was probably around the same size as the yellow one, which did look to be the case, though more streamlined somehow.

_C’mon Jordan,_ he told himself as he walked toward it, gulping nervously.  _You can do this. Just…go up to the giant robot lion that an alien princess thinks you can fly._

The forcefield gave everything in the hangar a blue sheen, though there wasn’t really anything else in there to begin with, apart from some equipment that were probably how and why the Lion was seemingly suspended in the air, though it (she) was still close enough to the floor for him to be able to easily reach the edge of the forcefield around it (her).

“Uh—nice kitty,” he mumbled, stepping back. “I’m, uh, here to get you out of this place.” _Somehow_.

Nothing happened for a couple of seconds, save for some nagging feeling to _step away_ to start pinging away in his head. No sooner did he do that did the Lion drop to the floor, the barrier vanishing.

_They probably heard that,_ part of him noted, eyeing the ramp that the Lion had extended before stepping inside. The difference in coloration aside, it was identical to both the Red and Green Lions, and probably the yellow and black ones too. It took a bit of self-convincing to actually get situated in the pilot’s chair, and cerulean holographic displays came up as soon as he’d put his hands on the steering handles.

Now what had Molly done with the Red Lion again? Jordan briefly took the helmet off to wipe some sweat from his forehead, looking between everything from the monitors (not that it helped, because they were all in Altean) to the console to the handles and pedals.

The Blue Lion looked _insanely_ more complicated than the  _Arrow_ , and all that thought did was send a jolt of panic through him, because if he couldn’t fly a star-racer right, then how the hell was he supposed to fly  _this thing_ without wrecking it?!

Not even a moment later, Jordan found himself letting out the breath he hadn't realized he’d been holding; a wave of calm had swept over him, and he blinked a few times before looking around warily.  _Where the heck did that—oh, wait._

Magic alien ship that was somehow alive…and could maybe read minds? As creepy as that idea was, that was probably a _fantastic_ first impression he’d just given. “Uh, thanks,” he said, feeling awkward now. Jordan heard what sounded like a very big cat purring in response, accompanied by a distant feeling of appreciative happiness in the back of his head.

The impression that followed wasn’t him either, also coming from the foreign presence that was suddenly lurking in his head. It was vague, but the meaning was clear: the Blue Lion wanted to get  _out_ of this place.

Jordan stared at the steering console again. Now that he was taking another look at it, the pedals looked like something a vehicle on Earth would have. So there was  _one_ familiar thing, at least.

And, well, maybe this being a magic alien ship that was apparently telepathic had a bonus. “Now what do I do?” he asked.  In response, a blurred image briefly overlaid his vision—both handles forward. The purring sound came again, rising and falling steadily in a calming way.

It was a thing. The living, psychic lion-shaped spaceship that thought he could be a pilot was  _actually a thing_. The alien princess was not kidding about  _anything_  when it came to the Blue Lion…which meant he had to surrender a point of merit to her.

She was better than Beetle Boy, at least.

He regarded the hangar’s doors. A few good laser shots (the Lions’ weapons packed a  _serious_  punch, according to Stan) should put a decent hole through them. Jordan threw one final wary glance at the handles, and took a deep breath before gripping them a little tighter.

If the Lion thought he could do it, too…then maybe this wouldn’t be so hard.  _Maybe_.

The sound of laser blasters and flickers of light on the display screens made him look to the side, and he saw a whole cluster of Galra in the hangar now, all shooting at the Blue Lion with handheld weapons, not that it was doing anything.

_Well…here goes nothing._

* * *

It seemed to take forever for the barrier around the cannon (which was a  _really big cannon_ ) to begin weakening, visibly flickering now.

It also somehow made sense that the mirror-like objects arranged around the entryway to the Lion were the basis of a second, more-powerful weapon compared to the laser set in the tip of the Lion’s tail, the former of which was being put to use now.

Stan had figured out pretty quickly that flying a Lion was, in a word’s description,  _different_. The Yellow Lion was almost like the flight-suits were: just think, and he did. The difference was that sometimes he’d do something on his own.

If what was heard over the comm is anything to go on, none of the rescued prisoners were from Alwas; Shiro and Koji were on their way out now; Shiro’s prosthetic had a few tricks hidden in it, specifically of the “being able to generate intense heat and completely destroy Galran sentries” kind. Shiro was also no greenhorn in terms of physical combat.

They hadn’t heard anything from Jordan yet.

Molly was leading the fighters on a merry chase through a nearby asteroid field, though some of them had broken off to go after Stan instead. They’d shied away from any mock-charges he’d made at them with the Yellow Lion in response, but then came the time when some hadn’t moved in time, and had broken apart into shrapnel when the Lion had hit them.

That had been a  _horrific_ shock, even if he’d already known that they were just drones, and he’d made a mental note to watch where he was steering the Lion.

The hairline fractures in the translucent purple field splintered, followed by the barrier finally disintegrating. “Finally,” he muttered to himself, before turning his focus to the next part of Operation Wreck-The-Cannon: actually _wrecking the cannon_.

Stan considered his options. On one hand, he could go after the barrel. That was Yellow’s suggestion—the Lion could do some massive damage just by ramming into it, considering how heavily-armored he was to begin with.

It was…weird, having another consciousness in his head. Weird in a way that was indisputably  _unnatural_ , but at the same time it felt  _normal_. Usually Yellow kept himself distant, seeming almost as unsure as Stan himself was on this whole thing, but occasionally he had some input on something that happened, or on a stray thought or two.

Such as now: the base of the cannon was probably where whatever powered it was, and there was a flicker of realization from the Lion. Not even ten seconds later, the latter structure had a sizable crater in it.

The barrel got a hit as well for the heck of it—since hitting things was always good for stress-relief for him—when the Green Lion raced past, followed by what could only be the Blue Lion.

Which sailed right into an asteroid.

Though it bounced off undamaged, there was something of a mental wince from Yellow.

_“You found it?”_ Molly asked.

_“Yeah,”_ Jordan replied, and a display appeared of the Blue Lion’s cockpit; he had one hand to his head with one eye half-shut, probably out of reflex, and the other hand was on one of the Lion’s handles.  _“I think I’m just gonna let the Lion deal with the_ flying  _part.”_

“That’s probably a good idea,” Stan said, thinking back to Jordan’s terrible attempt at flying the  _Arrow II_. “Hey, maybe you can practice flying out here in space. There’s less things to crash into…well, except for what you just hit.”

_“Very funny,”_ was the sarcasm-laced remark.

* * *

The first thing they’d seen when the castle had come into view was the translucent blue barrier around it, not unlike the one that had first been around the Red Lion when they’d first come across him on Alwas. Coran hadn’t wasted time in informing them that it was the castle’s particle-barrier, and that the Lions would pass through it with no problem.

Koji had numbly repeated the words _particle barrier_ , but hadn’t asked any questions.

No sooner had they returned to Arus had Molly wanted to ask the rescued prisoners if they  _knew_  anything about Alwas, but she was told firmly by Allura that it would have to wait, since they were all in cryopods to heal (apparently they were meant to be used as healing devices) right now, and would be for another two “quintants.”

Shiro stepped out of the Green Lion and over to the base of the stairway, taking a deep breath. _“So how long are we gonna be sitting here for?”_ Jordan asked.

_“I just put the command in,”_ Allura replied.  _“It should go through any tick now.”_  As if prompted by her words, the cyan highlights of the large black door seemed to shine brighter, in accordance with the eyes of the four Lions flashing.

Then the door started sliding upwards, and there was a collective intake of breath from everyone, coinciding with the Black Lion’s presence sharpening with apprehension.

Ebony metal gleaming in the artificial light, Black towered over all four of the others, and the roar she let out matched the difference, the sound being echoed by the others.

Shiro had barely taken five steps into the cockpit proper before he heard an alarm blaring throughout the hangar, followed by a hasty warning from Allura: _“Sendak’s entering the Arusian atmosphere!”_

No sooner did she finish speaking did the screens all immediately light up in a shade of pale purple. Of course it was purple, because purple was the color _black light_ emitted, but Black didn’t have the same feeling that the Galra ships had.

The Lions all rocketed up through the tower, the gateway at the top opening to let them out, all five coming to a heavy landing outside the castle—just in time to see an ominous glow from the battlecruiser culminate into a beam of solid light. The force of the impact caused the ground to shake violently for a few seconds, the castle’s barrier being enveloped in flames for that same timeframe.

The reticle on Black’s front screen zoomed in on the source of the light once the air had cleared, focusing on the very-much-intact cannon. _“How the hell did they fix that thing so fast?”_  Stan exclaimed, sounding both impressed and startled.

_“Well, the damage you did has it at half its firing power,”_ Coran said.  _“Of course, the castle’s shields still get weaker with every blast, so we really do need Voltron right about now!”_

That _sounded_ like a plan, but there was one problem. Apart from the fleeting vision the Red Lion had shown them all, Shiro had no idea what Voltron even _was_. At first he had been thinking it was just all five Lions together as a team, but Allura and Coran were implying that it was something…more.

There was some agreement from Black on the _all five together_ part, but that was it. She wasn’t telling Shiro anything else right now, which meant they’d just have to make do with what they had right now.

There was another blast from the cannon, and the castle’s barrier was blinking opaque red in multiple places.  _“Uh, Shiro? You have a plan, right?”_ Jordan asked.

“We take down that battleship,” Shiro replied, and Jordan nodded slightly in response. The other three blanched at his words, and Shiro suppressed a wince. Maybe the cadet had figured it out beforehand. “I understand that none of you expected to get dragged into something like this,” he started. “But sometimes life throws you curveballs and you just have to deal with them. We’ll all be done for if they get these Lions.

“Ignore the fighters unless it’s absolutely necessary. Jordan, let the Blue Lion take care of the flight controls, and you handle the weapons—see if you and Molly can disable the engines.”

_“Uh—okay but—where_ are _the engines?”_ the latter asked uncertainly.

“Somewhere around the back of it.”

Fifteen and getting into three life-or-death situations…no, scratch that, getting into a full-blown  _war_ , all because of Shiro. Karma was going to get back at him for sure.

“Stan, Koji, you’re both with me—we need to knock that cannon out for good this time.” There were four hesitant, affirmative responses, before all five Lions charged out into the fray.

They were faster and stronger than the Galran fighters, but they were vastly outnumbered. While there were some places on the battleship that were more thinly-armored, like where they’d cut into it to begin with prior to retrieving the Blue Lion, the essential places—the engines and the bridge—were heavily protected.

The surface of the engine’s covering had hardly been scorched by the Red and Blue Lions before a third cannon shot fired; having had time to recharge, the shield protecting the cannon had only just broken once again under the combined power of the other three Lions.

There was a sound like a giant bug-zapper, before Allura warned,  _“Our shields are down. I’m redirecting all remaining power to the weapons system, but you_ must _form Voltron!”_

_“How are we supposed to do that?!”_ Koji sounded dangerously close to hysterics, and the Green Lion was flying around in a haphazard manner, narrowly avoiding a small swarm of fighters.

A smaller laser fired at the Black Lion and Shiro had to swerve to avoid it, nearly crashing into the Yellow Lion in the process. Stan didn’t look that much better over the display screens, and neither did Molly or Jordan.

Shiro now had a theory on why Jordan never learned how to pilot in the Garrison now, if how he was randomly hitting buttons on the front console was anything to go on.

Molly glanced off to the side, a look of pure panic crossing her face before warning _“Cannon!”_ in a frantic tone. It was glowing again, still trained on the castle—and an idea struck Shiro, seemingly at the same time as all of the others, if their expressions were anything to go on.

All five Lions rammed the barrel from two sides: Black, Red, and Green from the left, Yellow and Blue from the right.

Now it looked vaguely like a crumpled straw, rather than a cannon. A large, hollow, metal straw that was filling with active plasma that now had nowhere to go.

“Everyone, scatter!” Shiro ordered, admittedly unnecessarily, because the others had already veered away.

The cannon fired, and promptly rebounded.

The plasma tore through the ship, sending it crashing to the ground as a flaming wreck. Shiro sighed heavily, relieved, before giving the others a once-over. They had looks of disbelieving surprise, with the exception being Molly. Her focus was zeroed in on the heap of metal, expression one that was an unclear sort of…fearful?

There was a dim sense of concern from Black, and Shiro was about to say her name, only for a laser shot ricocheting off of one of his Lion’s wings to remind him that there was still an absolutely-insane amount of Galran fighters still in the air.

The others were quick to snap out of the post-victory daze when the laser barrages started, which was enough to jolt Molly out of whatever trance she’d been in as well.

But what had caused it?

* * *

They’d spent the next several minutes taking care of what was left of the Galra fighters with assistance from the castle’s defense system, which was at that time two small drones remotely controlled by Allura and Coran, before they had brought the Lions back to their hangars.

(Allura and Coran had done most of it, followed by Shiro and Jordan. All Eva really did was lead smaller groups of the fighters into range along with Stan and Koji.)

Well, technically the Lions brought themselves back to their hangars, since Eva honestly couldn’t tell any of them apart. The hallways in the castle all looked the same, too, so it took a bit to find her way from Red’s hangar to the bridge.

The Galra ship’s wreckage was still spewing smoke into the sky, and she was forcing herself to keep her eyes off of it.

It hadn’t been the same one as before. She had felt dismayed, relieved, and frightened all at once when Koji had confirmed that earlier, and that hadn’t been a pleasant feeling at all.

Allura waited until all five of them were there before saying “Good work, Paladins.” There was some obvious relief in there, but it had an edge of disappointment that Eva had heard one too many times within the past week or so to _not_ miss, but she was too tired to care at this point.

Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, she was just  _spent_.

Jordan muttered something under his breath, at the same time as Stan wearily asking “There’s a place for us to clean up and crash, right?”

“Ah, yes!” Coran held one finger up as he spoke. “I’ll show you to your rooms—right this way!” A few twists and turns preceded a flight of stairs that went up in a spiral, which led out to a short dead-end hallway with five rooms, two on the left and two on the right, and one at the end.

It was a  _giant_  step up from the glorified broom-closet of a room she’d had on Alwas, being a lot more spacious. It followed the same color-scheme as the rest of the place, though there was a carpet the same silver-gray color as the walls. There was a floor-length mirror on one wall, and two bookshelves against another; both of them were filled to the brim, but the books themselves were all in Altean.

A closet to the right was equally-packed, with clothes of various colors…at least, if different hues of red could be considered various colors. Coran had said that he’d pre-stocked it for them, but she’d expected him to at least give her some other options.

It was after picking some things at random that Eva noticed something in the corner of the closet. Namely, a pair of fuzzy-looking slippers that had an uncanny resemblance to Red.

There was a good chance that they’d belonged to someone else a very long time ago, but they looked like they’d been thoroughly washed. Aside from being a little too big, they otherwise fit.

At least, they’d been a little too big for a few seconds. Apparently Alteans had self-fitting clothes to go along with the flight-suits.

A smaller door set in the wall closer to the bed (which looked tempting right now) opened up to a bathroom, a shower included…the controls of which were,  _surprise_ , in Altean.

There was a switch, which she found was for turning it on, and two dials. Dial #1 was water-pressure, and dial #2 was temperature, both of which changed surprisingly fast. Then there was the assortment of buttons on a keypad, which Eva decided were better left untouched for now.

She was pretty sure she spent at least fifteen minutes in there appreciating the hot water, but the fact that she hadn’t eaten anything at all yet today prompted her to get out, get dressed, deposit her team uniform from Alwas in the laundry chute that was set into the wall, and find her way back to the bridge.

At least, that’s what her intent had been—she hadn’t expected to nearly walk into Jordan when she stepped into the hall, who was wearing a two-toned blue shirt with matching pants, looking slightly damp. “What took you so long?” he asked after jumping back slightly, seeming sullen.

“Just enjoying the shower,” she replied, scowling back.

He made an unamused sound. “That makes one of us. Mine was stuck on the high-pressure setting.” A pause. “Well…I don’t think Shiro had any trouble, either.” Then one corner of Jordan’s mouth twitched, before he added, “Stan and Koji both got attacked by soap.”

The sheer  _ridiculousness_  of that statement caught Eva off-guard. “How did that happen?” she asked, irritation momentarily forgotten.

“The side buttons.” Jordan failed at suppressing a grin at that point. “They both smell like a bunch of flowers right now!” That was what had Eva lose her composure altogether, and Jordan was laughing along with her for a minute, before he faltered a bit. “But seriously—Coran’s getting food for everyone.”

“What kind of food?”

“I have no clue.” Well, there was practically no chance of it being cup-ramen, and that automatically made it sound appealing to her.

As they were nearing the dining hall the others were waiting in, Eva noticed something else. “You have ‘em too?”

“Huh?” Jordan glanced down, face flushing a bit. “Oh, these? I, uh, found ‘em in the closet.” If Eva had to guess, all five of them had matching Lion slippers. “They’re…really comfy. And the—the floor’s cold.”

“Sure,” was her dry-toned response as they entered the room, and Eva found herself a chair next to Stan…who did indeed smell vaguely floral. Both he and Koji also looked more a bit peeved, and as she’d suspected, were both in shades of either yellow or green. There were no sign of slippers, though.

There was also the small pyramid-shaped robot hovering a ways behind the team’s technician, occasionally chirping now and then. It was kind of cute, if the fact that it was originally part of a Galran security system was overlooked.

Allura was seated at the head of the table along with the four mice, and Coran came into the room moments later,  _somehow_  managing to balance seven plates all at once, and he slid them all down the table smoothly. As for what the “food” was, it was the same stuff he’d tried giving Allura earlier.

“What even  _is_ this stuff?” Stan asked after a few moments, eyeing it warily.

“Synthetic emergency rations,” was Coran’s response. “Typically reserved for longer trips where perishables wouldn’t be a wise decision, but, we-ll…everything else has _long_ since expired.”

“So they’re MRE’s,” Jordan summed up, before giving a sarcastic “Great.”

It really did look like lime pudding, or maybe jello, or something in between, and…and Shiro was eating it like it was just one of those things and not space-goo. “What?” he queried at seeing their looks. “It’s edible.”

Eva gave the stuff one last dubious look before giving it a small try. In terms of consistency, it was definitely  _in between_ , but flavor-wise?

She now had some concerns for how much Shiro could actually taste.

“Where is Arus, anyways?” Koji asked after a few minutes, looking at Allura, who had just finished hers. “I mean—where in the galaxy is it?”

“Arus is a fringe planet,” she replied. “Though I suppose you’re wondering where we are in regards to your homeworld.” A few nods were given in response, and she pursed her lips. “While we may have your planet’s coordinates, it’s probably under a different name. You’ll have to help me find it.”

So commenced another walk up two flights of stairs, which reminded Eva of the fact that she was exhausted. The displays in the bridge showing the outside were off, thankfully, and Allura brought up the starmap.

Jordan was squinting at everything, looking around, while Koji pointed out Alwas, near the center of what was currently displayed. At least, it might have been Alwas. It could also be the two other equidistant planets that her dad had been talking about that last night on Earth; Eva couldn’t read Altean, but she has a good guess on what the symbols by the one planet in the center of the display meant—Ōban.

(Where they’d never get to.)

Shiro stepped toward the back of the room and points at one of the multiple clusters of dots. “Can you zoom in on this one?” The images blurred once, twice at Shiro’s insistence, and then Eva saw a more-familiar set of dots: their own solar-system. “Right there,” he said, pointing at a specific one. “That’s Earth.”

“That one?” Coran eyed the display, then looked back at the monitor. He went wide-eyed for a few seconds, but schooled it back to a professional look fast enough for Eva to wonder if she’d imagined it, tapping a few keys that got the label by that specific dot to change.

“Where’s Arus on this?” Stan asked. In response, the orange-haired Altean zoomed out, and the specks all receded into a spiral shape.

Everything seemed to freeze for a few seconds, the only sound being a barely-stifled choked sound from one of the boys.

“Earth is there,” Coran was saying. Then he started scrolling. “And Arus is  _aaaaaaaaaaaaaall the waaaaaaaaaaaay ooooveeeeeeeer_ …here!” The map zoomed in on another vaguely-spiral shape, and he pointed to a highlighted dot.

“Wha’…?” Jordan muttered, a look of muted fear crossing his face. “But how—why are…h-how are we…” His voice steadily got quieter, shaking his head slowly as he spoke.

“Well now, that’s quite the distance!” Coran commented, sounding impressed. “That wormhole jump must’ve been a bumpy ride, given the distance…” He trailed off when he turned around, seeing their expressions. “Is something wrong?”

“Not— _wrong_ , really,” Shiro replied, voice distant even though he was standing only a few feet away. He had the look of a sudden realization on his face: he knew about this already and probably only just remembered. “It’s just…our species just started getting out of its own solar-system fifty-three years ago. I don’t think anyone’s considered there being life outside our galaxy yet.”

“But surely you would’ve had at least some indirect contact with at least one other system,” Allura exclaimed doubtfully, before her face fell. “Unless…the Aenidesian Blockade,  _of course_ …”

“The what?” Koji looked faint, ready to faint, or maybe both. His expression was one of sheer disbelief, whereas Stan was ashen; he’d muttered something too quietly for Eva to hear, looking slightly ill.

“It was a law enacted up by the natives of the Aenides complex to protect Ōban, after the war with the Galra began,” Coran explained. “They all have the firepower to enforce it, and they’re rather fond of the idea of _not_ interfering with the development of other races. Granted, given what’s happened, I don’t think the blockade itself is holding up that well…”

Eva herself felt like someone just ripped the floor out from under her, a cold sort of numbness creeping over her. What Shiro said was true—she’d thought that the distance between Earth and Alwas had been huge, but Arus?

It had taken almost  _fifteen seconds_  for Coran to finish scrolling to where it was.

Specifically, to the  _galaxy_ Arus was in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Worldbuilding is always fun. Not shown is Shiro figuring out his prosthetic's power, because that would go literally the exact way it does in VLD.  
> It’s implied in OSR that the Earth, while aware of alien life in the Milky Way, doesn’t know about other galaxies yet. I am taking _full advantage_ of that implication.


	5. Arc I: Race's End - Paladin Training 101

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of training starts off rocky, and the resulting tensions result in an unexpected spat between two members of the team. At the same time, Jordan starts to realize that maybe piloting the Blue Lion isn't going to be as hard as it initially looked, whereas Shiro's experience at dealing with angsty teenagers is going to be put to the test, and Eva herself finds herself with another very big problem.  
> Namely, the detail of being mentally linked to a sentient robot lion having… _side-effects_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **This chapter will be receiving an additional segment when I figure out how to translate the idea into words.**

It was after about a minute’s worth of staring at the ceiling that Koji figured he wasn’t going to be getting any more sleep. Not that he’d gotten much to begin with.

It also cemented the fact that yesterday had actually happened and hadn’t been a fever-induced dream.

He glanced at the clock, or “ticker” as Coran called it, set on one of the walls after sitting up and grabbing his glasses and the translator off of the nightstand, but that really didn’t do any good either, considering that Alteans used different time measurements. 

If he had to guess, that was what the words _quintant_ , _varga_ , and _decaphoeb_ were supposed to be. Figuring out how they compared could be a headache for another day.

Since this particular occasion of waking up was by means of his internal clock, it was probably early in the morning. Early enough so that Stan might be awake already, but also early enough to the point where it could easily be just them.

Although the hallways were all identical for the most part, they did have markings to distinguish them, and even if it was all in Altean, they looked unique enough to differentiate from one another.

The fact that he and the others were all currently residents of a ten-thousand year old alien  _castle_ that was clearly more technologically advanced than anything on Earth or what the hospital on Alwas had was something that he was still having trouble processing.

While it lacked the _this-place-is-abandoned_ feeling it had when they’d first walked in, it was still eerily quiet. With how large it was, the castle could’ve been considered a small town in itself. Or at least, it should have been; five humans, five sentient robot lions, two Alteans, and four uncannily-intelligent mice didn’t make for much of a population.

Bedrooms, bridge, hangar, infirmary, and might’ve been a common room of sorts aside, there were also a few storage rooms and a sizable library. The hangar itself ended up taking a few minutes to find his way to, and Koji made a mental note to memorize the marks that labelled the corridor it was in.

The first thing he noticed was that he was right in thinking Stan was up already. The second thing was that the _Arrow_ looked _sorely_ out-of-place among the monochromatic Altean ships.

Stan was rummaging through a box filled with various things that might be ship parts, though he looked up when Koji got closer. “Can’t sleep either?”

“How’d you guess?” He’d felt as though he’d been waking up every other ten minutes or so, and with that added to the _thirty_ or so minutes it took to fall asleep again, well…it was definitely four hours at the most, though in reality it was probably less than that.  If the dark smudges under Stan’s eyes were any indicator, he hadn’t gotten much in terms of sleep either.

Stan didn’t answer the reciprocating question, instead looking at something behind Koji. “Why does that thing keep following you everywhere?”

“Huh?” Koji glanced over his shoulder, and the drone chirped a few times. He hadn’t realized it had been following him. “It might be a side-effect of me resetting it.” It honestly didn’t seem like it had much of an AI to it.

Stan looked at the box again. “I was thinking we could rewire some of these to use for repairs. I mean, this… _might_ be an engine part?” He sounded dubious, gesturing at one of the things near the top during the pause. There was another, longer silence before he gave a sort of half-smile that had a sardonic edge to it. “At least we have time to figure it all out.”

Koji knew exactly what Stan meant by that, and it was one of the more contrary things about all of this. On one hand, their star-racer likely wouldn’t be seeing much use anytime soon.

On the other, they could take their time in doing full repairs on everything, including the hyperdrive…and something in the back of Koji’s head twitched at the thought of the hyperdrive, and it wasn’t the Green Lion, who seemed to be paying close attention to the conversation.

The face Stan was making right now suggested he was trying to remember something, too. But  _what_ were they forgetting? Something sitting on the edge of the box caught Koji’s attention, effectively distracting him. “Why do you have that thing?”

“Oh, this? I tried figuring out how it works earlier.” Stan picked up the yellow-accented device. “I don’t want to take it apart in case I can’t figure out how to put it back together, though.” He turned it over in his hands a few times before adding “Actually, I’m not sure I can take it apart to begin with,” in a mutter that was probably meant for himself.

It was a pretty out-there assumption, but Koji was thinking that the bayards might be making use of some kind of molecular-level storage function.

It was all pretty amazing, if the fact that it was a  _weapon_  that each of them now own one of was overlooked, the reasoning for them each getting their own weapon being…something he didn’t really want to consider, so he mulled Stan’s words over instead.

“Well, maybe we could ask Allura or Coran about—” A shrill alarm starting to blare interrupted the conversation, making them both jump. After exchanging a quick apprehensive look, they both started running.

Koji ended up stumbling back when they reached the intersection before the bridge (distinguishable by the wider hall) when he ran directly into Molly, who flinched away with a pained hiss.

“What the heck is going on?” Jordan asked, after barely managing to avoid doing the same to Stan. By the look of it, both he and Molly had been woken up very suddenly by the noise, and they hadn’t slept too well either.

“I don’t know!” Koji replied, feeling more than a little panicked, before they bolted into the room. Unexpectedly, Shiro was there already, as were the Alteans, one of whom looked distinctively annoyed upon seeing the rest of them filing into the room.

“I’m guessing this isn’t an actual attack,” Shiro was saying.

“And it’s a good thing it wasn’t,” was Allura’s icy-toned response as the alarm cut off. “Because it took you—Coran?”

“Seventy-five degrees!”

There was a flat “Huh?” from Molly, and to the side, Koji saw a look of confused indignance on both Jordan’s and Stan’s faces. As little of an act of consolation it was, Allura looked about as baffled as Koji was feeling.

Coran looked at the handheld device for a moment longer before seeming to realize something, face sheepish. “Oh wait, this is a meat thermometer.”

Allura sighed in an aggravated manner. “Regardless of how long it took, it was  _too long_. Coran and I have been up for vargas now, working on repairs to the castle, and we had to test the alarm systems. We decided to test  _you_  while we were at it.” The scowl deepened. “Guess which one failed.”

“We were  _sleeping_!” Molly countered irritably. “A little warning would’ve been nice!”

“You think Zarkon is going to give us a warning when he launches another attack? Only Shiro is in uniform, and Stan at least has his bayard—the rest of you  _don’t_!” At that point, Koji had a nagging feeling that today probably wasn’t going to go well.

“Judging by the amount of distress beacons the castle has picked up over the last ten-thousand years, it’s safe to assume that Zarkon is in control of most of the known universe,” Allura went on. “It’s  _very_   _likely_  that the only reason your galaxy is still relatively safe from the Galra is because of the Avatar’s presence there!”

“Sure as hell didn’t stop them from wrecking everything on Alwas,” Stan said, tone sour, crossing his arms. “Isn’t preventing that kind of stuff his job?”

“Not necessarily,” Coran said. “From what we know, the Avatar is more of a neutral presence than anything else, and—”

“ _And_  you five should be getting started on your training,” Allura interrupted, eyes narrow.

That was the other thing that had been bothering Koji since yesterday. No one had said anything outright yet, but he had a bad feeling about what they might’ve just been pulled into.

“Wha’—we  _just woke up_!” Jordan shouted irately.

“Consider it practice for when we're under attack in the middle of a sleep-cycle, then. Now get to your Lions!” Jordan grumbled something under his breath, though he went quiet when Shiro gave him a sharp look.

No, Koji really did not want to consider what they all might just be having to deal with now. Why else would they be  _under attack_ in the middle of the night? (He was assuming that “sleep-cycle” translated to night.)

“We’ll start with some basic flying drills,” Shiro said. “Then we’ll come back for some breakfast after thirty minutes or so. Sound fair?”

There was some muttered assent after a short pause, and they turned to start down the hall, but a light flicker of something that wasn’t exactly a physical sensation coming from Green’s presence stopped Koji mid-step, and he turned to look at the narrow doorways set throughout the room.

At the same time, Coran said “You could make use of the lifts here on the bridge, unless you’d prefer to get suited up first.”

He really didn't feel like walking all the way to the Green Lion’s hangar right now anyways. There was some hesitation before the others—barring Shiro who once again had the unique one, and including Koji himself—each went to a specific door.

Koji paused to look back at the drone, which was  _still_  following him, and made a point of telling it to stay put. Which it did, thankfully. Part of him offhandedly wondered if he’d be able to program a better AI for it.

The lift went down quickly, taking roughly ten seconds to reach the bottom of the shaft, and then it just stopped. The passageway was highlighted green, not bright enough to be overly painful, but still enough to make his eyes sting a bit, and there didn't seem to be any second platform or anything on the floor. Then he noticed the handle set into a rail on the ceiling. It was a zip-line.

A _zip-line_.

It took a few attempts for him get a hold onto the pulley, which started moving immediately. While Koji had better reflexes than most people tended to expect, he was exactly as strong as most people assumed, on top of him still being sore from yesterday.

In other words, it wasn’t long until he lost his grip on the handle and ended up tumbling down the remainder of the slope head-over-heels. He stayed on the floor for a few seconds, stunned, before picking himself up and walking the short distance to…what seemed to be  _at least_  a twelve-foot drop.

No, today was definitely  _not_  going to go well.

* * *

_“Should someone go in to check on him?”_ Jordan asked.

“Give him another minute or two,” Stan replied. He didn’t have much doubt as to why Koji was taking so long—Stan himself was just wondering who thought a zip-line was a good shortcut, even though it…technically _was_ a quick one, and was admittedly kind of fun.

As it turned out, it didn’t take another minute, as the Green Lion emerged from its tower moments later. “Lemme guess, the zip-line?”

_“Who even_ designed _that system?”_ was the frustrated-sounding response.

Shiro sighed near-inaudibly over the comm. _“All right—Molly, I know you were the_ Arrow _’s pilot for part of the competition on Alwas, but have you taken any lessons before that?”_

_“No,”_ was her initial response, and her face faltered over the monitor screen before she added, “ _I mean, Rick taught me a few things, but that was during the race.”_

And that was another thing that had made it hard to sleep. Yeah, Stan _did not care for_ how Don tended to treat them (Molly and Jordan specifically, though Molly in particular had often been at odds with him) on Alwas, but at the same time he couldn’t help but feel worried for both him and Rick.

Stan jolted when there was the mental equivalent of a hard poke from the Yellow Lion, and he barely managed to catch the end of what Shiro was saying. He looked at the Lion’s steering handles for a few seconds before replying with, “Well, I _did_ test-fly the _Arrow I_ , but it was only in a straight line for a few meters.”

_“Okay—Jordan?”_ The silence that followed Shiro’s abridged question was an awkward one. _“Right…well, let’s start with flying in formation.”_

_“Which one?”_ Jordan asked resignedly.

It wasn’t Shiro that replied. Rather, it was the Lions themselves providing an answer by lining themselves up on the stone bridge where they’d been waiting—Yellow was on one end, with the others to the right in the order of Green, Black, Red, and Blue. _“This one, I guess,”_ Shiro said after a few long moments. _“Jordan, just hold the controls steady. Alright?”_

_“Got it.”_ He sounded nervous, and honestly Stan was feeling nervous too.

Yellow sent over a feeling that could be described as chiding. Now that it was more of a casual situation, Stan was able to better assess the _currently-impossible-to-ignore_ feeling that was the secondary presence in his head. Yellow was…warm, in a sense that was like a direct ray of sunlight, or sand that had been out in the sun all day, but not overly so.

So commenced a time of just flying in a straight line with occasional curves to turn—and to Stan’s surprise, it wasn’t _nearly_ as terrible as Jordan’s attempt at flying the _Arrow_ had been. The Blue Lion only wobbled now and then, although the detail of the Lions being thought-driven to a degree probably had something to do with it.

Either way, Stan saw that Molly was giving the Blue Lion plenty of room.

If he and Koji could just figure out how to get a steering system like this on a star-racer…

A flash of light to one side broke him out of his thoughts, and he saw that the castle’s particle-barrier (which was another thing he wanted to take a look at eventually) was active.

_“Why’s the barrier up?”_ Molly asked uncertainly.

_“I have to run a diagnostic tests on the castle’s defenses,”_ Allura replied; a monitor appeared, showing her facing an arc of holoscreens to the side on the bridge.

Several seconds later, the ground in front of the Yellow Lion was blasted apart by a cyan-hued laser, which Stan just barely managed to get out of the way of it in time. “Allura, what are you doing?!”

_“Running a diagnostic.”_ Her tone was unnervingly cheery. _“And I’m inspiring you in the meantime!”_

_“Inspiring us for_ what _?!”_ Jordan shouted, panicked. Ahead, the Blue Lion swerved to one side, just barely avoiding the Black Lion, if only because Shiro had her jump out of the way.

_“Your predecessors first formed Voltron in the heat of battle, which you five are going to have to learn how to do if we’re to have any hope of freeing other planets from Zarkon’s control. This should help!”_

Over the screen, Stan saw Allura tap a key on one of the holoscreens, and the computer then intoned _“Auto lock-on engaged.”_ And then she walked away.

Was she trying to kill them?

* * *

After maybe three hours had gone by, Stan was really starting to think  _yes_. At that point there were several different alarms blaring in the Yellow Lion, and multiple monitors were blinking red.

Which meant now the Lions were going to need to get some repairs, too—which was just  _wonderful_ , because he had no idea on how he’d even  _start_  on that.

He pulled back on the handles, and Yellow pivoted in place, but not fast enough for him to avoid getting clipped; he was promptly sent careening into the Red Lion, sending the smaller craft tumbling to the side.

_“Stan, watch where you’re going!”_ Molly snapped.

It took every bit of remaining willpower Stan had to not snap back at her, seeing as he was equally stressed-out at this point. Just when he was starting to think that would be a losing battle the lasers stopped, and the castle’s barrier flickered before vanishing.

Not even five seconds went by before he was steering Yellow back to the hangar, and no sooner was he standing up did Stan notice that the blinking monitors had actually  _stopped_ blinking, having returned to their standard gold hue.

He looked over the monitors—not that it really helped, because he couldn’t read any of the information on them, but the displays alone were giving an impression that was a baffling prospect to consider.

“It’s almost like you’re fixing yourself,” he mused aloud. The Yellow Lion then pulled off an air of being amused.  _No way._ “ _Are_ you fixing yourself?”

The amusement turned into a smug feeling, and that had him sitting down again and staying there for a minute.

Sentient, telepathic, thought-piloted, and  _self-repairing_. What next, being able to materialize things out of nowhere?

…now there was a feeling coming from the Lion that was like silent, hysterical laughter.

Stan decided that any interrogation could wait for a time where he was more clear-headed.

He found Molly, Jordan, and Koji in the same room that Coran had them wait in yesterday after they’d first met. Sitting on a center table were a few plates of that synthetic stuff they’d had for dinner the night before.

The others glanced up at noticing him, but aside from that, it was quiet for a short time, save for the lime-colored substance gradually vanishing. At least, until Jordan said, “Well that was horrible.”

“Understatement,” Molly agreed in a low tone.

Koji nodded. “At least we don’t have to worry about fixing the Lions,” he muttered, and Jordan fervently nodded in agreement.

“You saw that too?” Stan asked—he thought he’d seen the eyes of both the Green and Blue Lions flickering, and he  _knew_  he’d seen both of them take a few hits earlier.

“Uh-huh.”

Stan waited for a few seconds, but Koji stayed quiet. He _definitely_ hadn’t slept much either last night, though after a few minutes had gone by, Stan was pretty sure that all of them (himself included) were more than halfway to dozing before the sound of the door opening brought them all back to attention.

“Are we at full power for the fifth power condenser yet?” Allura was asking Coran.

“No, it’s still at eighty-four percent,” he replied, and they both paused when they saw the four of them.

Allura looked confused in an angry sense moments later. “How in the world did you get inside?” she demanded.

“The barrier went down, so we flew back in,” Molly replied, a huff audible in her voice.

“ _What_?”

And with that, Stan was beginning to suspect that they were still going to have to deal with an overbearing manager of a sort.

Coran coughed forcibly, looking sheepish. “Uh, right. Sorry, princess—testing the fire suppressers in the aft guest wing caused the defenses to shut down. That, uh, never had the chance to be fixed.”

Footsteps from the other end of the room preceded Shiro entering the room. “What’re you guys doing in here? We’re not taking a break.”

Jordan fixed him with a betrayed look before saying “ _Et_   _tu_ , Shiro?” Stan felt a headache starting to come on at that point.

_Now we have_ two _overbearing managers. Great._

“Not taking a—“ Molly sputtered a bit before exclaiming “We barely got any sleep last night, and we just got shot at for  _three hours_!”

Allura was glowering at her at this point, but Coran cut in before she could say anything. “Perhaps we should move onto something easier. You’re not going to be in the Lions all the time, after all.”

“What do you mean by that?” Stan asked, wary, while Molly resorted to seething quietly.

“You’ll need to be functional as a real team to have any chance of forming Voltron and going up against Zarkon,” the Altean man specified calmly. “Best place to work on that would be the training deck.”

“What training deck?” Jordan asked suspiciously.

* * *

Coran chivvied them down to the so-called training deck after having the four of them (barring Shiro, who had his on to begin with) get their flight-suits on and make sure their bayards were stored in the uniforms. Jordan had to admit that the outfits were actually pretty comfortable, but the other three looked awkward for the first few minutes.  _“Testing, testing,”_ the Altean said over the comm.  _“You all hear me, yes?”_

“We hear you,” Shiro replied.

_“Right then!”_ Coran’s tone brightened considerably—he probably expected it to have been not working.  _“Now, if the five of you could arrange yourself in the center of the room so we could get started…”_ After they did as such, his tone turned more business-like.  _“The Paladin Code demands that you put the safety of your teammates above your own, and this exercise will test that. Now, a swarm of drones is about to attack, and your objective is to do whatever you can to protect each other!”_

As if prompted by the words, a number of small white robots emerged from gaps that opened up in the walls, simultaneous with everyone’s left gauntlets producing a translucent blue shield that, despite appearing unwieldy, weighed absolutely nothing.

Jordan was forced to stop wondering about it when the drones started firing with plasma rounds that he was hoping were set to _non-lethal_.

It went well for about ten seconds, before Jordan felt something hit him in the back that produced a static-y feeling, which was followed by the floor promptly opened up under him. It was a two-foot drop onto a different floor that, despite being padded, still smarted and knocked the breath out of him.

Five seconds later, Molly was down there too, landing flat on her back. She stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, before groaning, putting her hands to her face.

“Uh, what just happened?” Jordan asked.

“I ducked,” was the muttered response. Which was probably why they were both down there—they’d both been hit.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. I probably would’ve done the same thing.”

Molly didn’t reply, instead sitting up and looking around. “Where’s the way out of here?”

Jordan copied her action, and soon picked out a door on one wall. It refused to open for another minute or so, but when it did, it revealed a stairway (two, actually; one went further up) that opened out onto the main deck. Shiro, Stan, and Koji all looked winded, though Stan was quick to ask if they were both okay.

“Yeah,” Jordan replied. “It wasn’t a big fall.”

Molly wasted no time in glaring up at the observation deck where Coran was. “How was  _that_ supposed to be easy?”

_“Er…well, perhaps I could’ve given you more of an in-depth explanation. Either way, this next one should be a breeze! Koji, you stay down there—the rest of you, come up here.”_  Koji looked uncertain, but stayed put while the rest of them headed up the second stairway, which led up to the observation deck.

Molly took the opportunity to aim a more pointed glare at Coran, who cleared his throat in a way that sounded awkward before turning to press a few keys on a holoscreen.

Below, translucent walls flickered into existence, before vanishing. The suddenness of it made Koji jump a bit. “This one here is one of my favorites,” Coran started, and then added with a flourish, “The invisible maze! If the five of you are to form Voltron, you’ll need to have complete trust in each other. We can see the layout of the maze from up here, but whoever’s on the floor can’t. A word of caution: touching the walls will give you a  _slight_ shock!”

_“So who’s giving me directions?”_ Koji asked. In response, Coran motioned to Stan, who stepped up to look at the monitor, and Jordan let himself relax. Those two were the epitome of teamwork already.

“Alright, so turn left and take three steps forward, turn right, and then take two steps that way,” Stan said after studying the screen for a few seconds.

Below, Koji did as such, and promptly stumbled back, simultaneously with a blue flash of light and a sharp crackling sound. He stared at where he’d tried walking for a bit, before whirling around to look up at them.  _“Stan, what was that for?”_

Stan visibly tensed, and took a deep breath before saying “I meant  _my_ left.”

Below, Koji stepped left—only to get shocked again.  _“Stan!”_

“No, it’s _behind_ you now—Koji, you’re not listening!”

_“And_ you’re _not being specific enough!”_

_No way…_ Jordan stared in dismayed incredulity at the spectacle that was the team’s mechanics, who’d never even had a  _disagreement_  as far as he knew, going at each other in what was rapidly devolving into a full-blown argument.

To the side, Shiro made a face when Koji started throwing in words that Jordan didn’t understand—and if the expression Stan had then was any indicator, things were dangerously close to getting ugly. Thankfully Coran intervened, pushing Stan away from the console and hitting a key on the screen, which was followed by a buzzing sound from the deck below.

“Okay, okay!” the Altean blurted, looking back and forth between them. Both had broken off mid-word and were more than a little red-faced, glaring at each another. “Let’s…let’s try something else with the Lions now, shall we?”

“They can argue with each other?” Molly whispered, stunned.

“I guess so,” he whispered back, feeling unsettled. Either way, Stan and Koji refused to even  _look_  at each other before they’d all split off in the direction of the Lions’ hangars.

Shiro stopped both Jordan and Molly before they could get too far. He seemed to hesitate before asking, “Does that happen often, or…?”

“No,” Molly answered. “We’ve never seen those two fight over  _anything_  before.”

“I mean, they look more worn-out than when they had to put the  _Arrow_ back together after it got cut in half, so that might have to do with it,” Jordan put in, before quickly adding, “And I don’t think leaving them alone would be a good idea right now.” Shiro looked marginally troubled before nodding in agreement.

Jordan still found himself feeling momentarily panicked when the Blue Lion’s display monitors came up, but Blue herself was a calming presence just at the edge of his awareness before he could really start freaking out.

Blue was going to be handling the  _flying_  until further notice, though. Yeah, sure, Jordan had done…a bit of steering earlier, which had felt awesome, but  _still_.

The Lion looked a lot more complicated than the  _Arrow_ , but it was almost like he had some kind of instinctive vague idea about her controls worked. Alien tech it might be, it was actually useful.

The Lions all flew out of their hangars, arcing upwards for some time before they levelled out, which suggested that maybe Yellow and Green had agreed on the detail of their pilots ( _still_  a weird thing to consider) needing some space from each other right now.

Jordan had no idea how high up they were, but if the fact that he could only make out sparse details about the ground below was anything to go on, it might have been standard airplane height. It also looked like it was late-afternoon now, which meant breakfast was more like lunch.

With the blue sky and white clouds, Arus looked almost like both of the other planets they’d already been on, save for the sun here being more orange in color, and the grass having a teal hue to it.

_“An important part of being a Paladin is having complete trust in your Lion,”_ Coran said over the comm. Again with the “trust” thing.

_“I think that’s a given at this point,”_ Koji remarked snippily.

It was obvious that the statement had been referring to Jordan himself, but he settled for biting his tongue instead of returning fire. Not after that spectacle on the training deck.

_“Perfect!”_  was the cheery response from Coran, apparently having missed the real intent of the words.  _“You should all be able to pull this off with little issue, then. Now put your Lions into a nosedive!”_

Blue seemed puzzled as she did as such, and Jordan felt a prick of anxiety for himself when the ground started slowly becoming more detailed. “So uh, what’s this one supposed to be?” he asked.

_“Trigel’s Dive,”_ was the response, and Blue’s confusion immediately turned into startled disbelief.  _“It’s—well, it’s actually an advanced technique that really none of you should be attempting until you’ve had a few years of Lion-flying experience, but we’re in a bit of a rush here.”_

Advanced? Oh no, Jordan did not like the sound of that _at all_.

_“Really? This doesn’t seem so bad,”_ Molly remarked over the comm. Then everything went dark, and there were panicked exclamations from her and the others.  _“I take that back—why can’t I see anything?!”_

_“The goal is to see through your Lion’s eyes,”_ Coran replied.  _“And pull up at the last second!”_

Jordan gave himself a few seconds to make sure he didn’t mishear that—and the thought that went through his head when it hit him that Coran wasn’t joking was _Well_   _screw that!_  

He tensed, getting ready to pull back on the handles (that  _was_ pulling up, right?) but a mental prod from Blue stopped him before he could.

Blue was flying, Jordan was shooting. That was a pretty big trust thing, now that he was thinking about it, so…maybe he could at least try.

“C’mon Jordy,” he muttered to himself, tightening his hold on the handles. “S-So what if it’s a weird alien thing?” He was  _flying a_   _magic space lion_! This kind of stuff should be a breeze!

…emphasis on  _should_ , because it sounded like even  _Molly_  was borderline panicking about this, and that alone was making Jordan want to panic along with her.

Blue gave him another psychic poke.  _Right, trust the Lion. Deep breaths. Shiro sounds calm._

Blue’s little metaphorical camping spot was usually something like a little patch of frost on the back of his head, in a weird sort of way, unless he actually focused on her. Then she was more like a whole, icy ocean that was somehow intimidating and reassuring at the same time.

For one brief,  _extremely_  surreal moment, Jordan could have sworn he saw the ground below flicker back into view, but a loud crashing sound followed by a startled cry from Molly spooked him into yanking the handles back. Blue’s thrusters fired off instantly, whereas Red slammed heavily into the ground.

_“Molly, Jordan, you both nearly had it there.”_ Coran’s tone was an encouraging one, and the words were followed by Jordan’s visor brightening again.  _“We’ll have to give it another go some other time.”_

Blue was hovering just above the ground, pulling off an impression that Jordan was hesitantly translating as agreeing with Coran, and Red was on the ground, just standing up now.

Both Yellow and Green were stuck halfway  _in_  the ground in front of them, which was more than likely where the crashing sounds came from.

From the mesa they were on, Jordan could see the Black Lion weaving between rock spires in the valley below, like Shiro could actually see where he’s going. He sighed subconsciously at seeing that.  _Figures._

Then again, Shiro was the guy that had smashed every single record the Garrison as a whole had to offer in terms of piloting, so it did make sense that he’d get the advanced flying technique right away…which Jordan himself may or may not have come close to also getting along with Molly…

Speaking of Molly. “You guys okay?” he asked, and three monitors came up. Molly looked dazed, nodding jerkily. Stan and Koji looked somewhere between irritable and mortified while their Lions pried themselves out of the ground; Stan was muttering something darkly, and though Koji stayed quiet, the scowl on his face was enough of an answer in itself.  _Maybe they were trying to prove a point to each other or something._

Seeing those two angry at each other was scary. Actually  _scary_.

_“Okay, this next one is going to be relaxing,”_ Coran was saying now. Jordan wasn’t really trusting him right now, even if he was starting to sound as weary as Jordan was feeling.  _“Meet me back on the training deck.”_

_“I’ll believe that when I see it,”_  Molly muttered over the comm as the Lions turn toward the castle.

* * *

The first impression Jordan got of the next thing, once they were all there and sitting in a loose circle, was stiff plastic headset which was mildly uncomfortable to have on.

_“This technique will be_ essential  _in forming Voltron,”_ Coran said over the comm.  _“The five of you have to learn to lower your barriers, and keep them down. Focus on your Lion, and nothing else!”_

That actually did sound easy. But of course, Jordan jinxed himself yet again with that thought, because something sidetracked him almost as soon as that it was through his head.

Beyond Blue’s chill, there was…something else. Three of them, actually, all being a jumbled swirl of ideas and emotions held at a distance, only partially-glimpsed like a silhouette behind an opaque curtain.

Across from him, Jordan saw one of Stan’s eyes twitch, before he growled “Mind your own business, Koji.” Jordan started a little when there was a prick of frustration from one of those other presences, coinciding with the low-toned words.

“I’m not doing anything!” was the immediate retort, and a flare of annoyance from a second point coincided with  _that_ , too.

“Knock it off, you two,” Shiro said sharply, a stern feeling coming across from the third one as he gave the mechanics (who were avoiding each other’s eyes now) a look that Jordan had seen his uncle pull on his cousins a few times—and that was when it hit Jordan.

_Holy shit, he was being literal._  Coran had called this a “mind-meld” exercise, and Jordan was now  _pretty sure_  that those other three are Shiro, Stan, and Koji…but shouldn’t there be  _four_?

Jordan glanced sideways at where Molly was sitting. She had her eyes shut tight, and looked like she was trying to focus—on the Red Lion, probably. Now that he had his attention on her, he was barely aware of a fourth other presence, almost completely in the background: it was a small, prickly-seeming spark of heat, and he could  _just_  pick up a creeping unease from her.

Moments later, Molly opened one eye slightly and glanced back at him, and the unease became more noticeable.

_“Focus, everyone!”_ Coran reminded, startling all five of them.  _Blue,_  Jordan told himself firmly in his head, brow furrowing in concentration.  _Think of Blue._  He saw a small hologram of the Blue Lion appear a few inches away from his forehead. _“That’s it. Now, bring your Lions together!”_

“Is this really necessary?” Koji asked. The small hologram of the Green Lion halfway to the center of the room stopped, flickering, and the sense of foreign irritation was a lot more noticeable now.

_“Yes, it is,”_ Coran affirmed. _“You have to be able to coordinate your thoughts, and there can’t be any walls or secrets between you.”_  The unease dropped into a sort of numb shock, and Molly’s face went slack, coinciding with Red’s barely-there hologram winking out of existence entirely.

To the side, Jordan saw Shiro frown, and the Black Lion’s hologram paused where it was floating. “Molly, is something—?”

He stopped mid-word, simultaneously with Jordan feeling the mental equivalent to having a window being slammed shut on his fingers. Judging by the others’ breathing hitching, they all had felt it too.

It corresponded with Molly ripping the headset off, throwing it across the room, and bolting out. “Wha’—Molly?!” Jordan scrambled to his feet and moved to start after her, but before he could make it to the door Allura came into the room, face stormy.

“And where do you think you’re going?” she asked icily. Jordan’s eyes narrowed in response. “Clearly, you’re all worse off than I initially thought. Coran, ready the Gladiator!”

_Gladiator?_

_“Uh, yes Princess. Everyone, put the headsets aside, and have your bayards ready. In order to defeat the Gladiator, five Paladins must fight as one…or, well, four works too, I suppose.”_ His voice quieted toward the end, and he sounded hesitant for the entire explanation.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Jordan heard Stan mutter as they left the headsets on a stand to one side of the room, which was retracted into the wall. Allura had gone up to the observation deck in the meantime.

The four of them meandered over to the center of the room, bayards soon in hand for the three the direction applied to, and Jordan looked around.  _I don’t see anything…_

He stiffened when he heard a  _thud_  behind him, and he turned around in time to see Koji get sent sprawling, the green bayard spiraling across the floor. Jordan’s military intuition had been correct—it was a combat simulator, by means of a training robot.

It was also apparent not even three seconds later that, even when they were pissed at each other, one rule always applied between the team’s mechanics: hurting one in front of the other resulted in all safeties going off.

Stan forwent his bayard entirely, rushing at the robot, but that didn’t end well for him, with the robot swinging its staff around and hitting in the side of the head. Them having their helmets made a lot of sense now.

A low-pitched droning sound preceded Shiro’s prosthetic lighting up, and the Gladiator turned to charge at him…and then Shiro froze.

Jordan quickly intercepted the robot by firing on it with his bayard (the laser rounds were cerulean instead of the standard yellow of standard firearm from Earth) and while that did get its attention, it deflected every single round with its staff, and Jordan found his feet being swept out from under him seconds later.

He was promptly sent flying into Shiro, who hadn’t moved—he’d gone wide-eyed and pale-faced the moment the Gladiator had started toward him.

Thankfully, the robot’s cyan highlights dimmed in a way that signified it was done, what with them all being on the floor.

Allura, on the other hand, was far from done: “What was  _that_?” she hissed, marching over to them.

“That was you trying to  _kill us_ ,” Stan replied angrily, picking himself up off the floor and returning the glare.

“That simulator was set at a level fit for a child! And where did Molly run off to, anyways? She’s not exempt from this!”

“Beats me,” Jordan muttered. “She’ll come back when she wants to.” He wasn’t going to admit it out loud right now, but he was wondering that too.

Coran cleared his throat, having followed Allura down. “Perhaps we should call it a day, princess? It  _is_  only day-one, after all.”

Jordan was…slightly appeased to know that they weren’t the only ones who would ever be on the receiving end of Allura’s ire. The look she was giving Coran was implying that she was considering ripping the mustache right off his face, but he didn’t even flinch.

It was a stalemate for a few long moments, until she sighed, grumbling “I suppose you’re right,” before turning and leaving the room. Coran still had some points of merit left thanks to that; he went after her, but to what ends, Jordan had no idea.

He heard the door on the opposite side of the room open and close, and looked over his shoulder to see that both Stan and Koji had left the room as well.

Shiro sighed next to him, putting a hand up to his face, before seeming to think of something. “You wouldn’t happen to know  _why_  Molly ran out like that, would you?”

“No,” Jordan replied curtly, and paused. “Are you okay?” Something about the way Shiro had frozen like that there didn’t sit right with him.

Shiro hesitated for just a moment before smiling a bit. “Don’t worry about me. Why don’t you go relax for a while?”

In most cases like this, Jordan would have let go of it then and there—he was just  _beat_ right now—and if Shiro said he was okay, he probably was.

This time, though, he had a nagging feeling that right now wasn’t the time for that choice, and Blue rumbled her assent in the back of his head. “I think we should go try to find her.” Before Shiro could say anything else, Jordan added, “Bad stuff usually happens when she runs off.”

Grooor’s tantrum in the tavern, the near-disaster that was the race against Ceres, and the actual disaster that was the race against the Nourasian were all good examples of that.

Truthfully, Jordan wasn’t sure Molly had completely forgiven him for that last one yet, or Stan and Koji considering their part in it; when Don had tried getting them to convince her to come out of her room, she'd thrown various hard and/or sharp objects at them as soon as the door had opened.

“Alright,” Shiro conceded after a moment. “Where should we start?”

“Uh…good question.”

* * *

It was after rifling through the closet for the second time that Stan decided that he was going to have to go rummaging for some different clothing options elsewhere in the building.

He didn’t mind shades of orange and yellow, but brighter hues weren’t really a favorite of his. (There was some mock offense from Yellow in response to that thought.)

He ended up settling for a set of dark-amber garments, and made sure to remember to grab his welding goggles off of the desk in the room this time, but in hindsight it should’ve been obvious that Koji would be double-checking on the damages to the _Arrow_ in the hangar. So Stan decided on taking a closer look at one of the Altean ships instead. If Koji had noticed him come in, he didn’t show it.

It took Stan a few minutes to find a panel, and a few minutes more to figure out how to open it. The shuttle was definitely… _different_ than what he was used to looking at, having an assortment of wires connected to several rhombus-shaped teal-glowing crystals. He could make out one larger crystal further in, but Stan could not for the life of him see anything that even remotely _looked_ like a fuel tank.

He spent an indeterminate amount of time trying to find it with no luck, and for that time the only sound heard was Koji tapping various keys on his tablet. Stan occasionally caught himself glancing over his shoulder at him, and sometimes he could tell that Koji was doing the same, but neither of them said anything.

At least, not until Stan got tired of the silence, and took a deep breath before saying, “Sorry for snapping at you earlier.”

The tapping stopped, and it was silent for roughly half a minute. Just as Stan was beginning to think it was too soon, he heard Koji reply quietly with “I’m the one that should be saying that. You were right—I wasn’t listening.”

“Still, I shouldn’t have gone off on you like that. I don’t think any of us got much sleep last night and I _knew_ that then but I still—y’know, and…” He glanced at Koji again, taking note of his expression, and decided to change the subject. The sooner the Maze Incident was forgotten, the better. “And we should probably name that thing or something.”

Koji looked up at the drone as well. Stan hadn’t noticed it was there for a while, until he’d heard it chirp. “I guess you have a point. Got any ideas?”

How did one name a robot? It was silver in color, but that would be too plain of a name. Cultural references would just get Jordan to tease them both about it for a long time if he recognized it, and he recognized practically everything.

Stan ended up mulling it over for a few minutes, before giving up. “I don’t know, Rover?”

“Well, that’s better than nothing,” Koji agreed. “I’m wondering if I could program some new functions onto it.” A pause. “After we fix what we can on the _Arrow_ , anyways.”

“Yeah…”

Fix what they could, with only a wrench and a screwdriver for equipment. Yeah, right.

“So this is where you two went!” They both turned to see Coran saunter into the hangar. “Working on your ship?” The Altean paused, taking note of the open panel on the shuttle, and took on a dubious tone. “Or on one of the pods?”

“We can’t actually fix anything right now,” Koji replied to the first question, adjusting his glasses.

“I was just looking at this thing.” Stan gestured to the shuttle. “Where’s the fuel tank on it?”

“There isn’t one.” Coran made a show of pointing out the larger crystal further in. “That there is the power source.”

“The crystal?” Stan didn’t need to look at Koji to guess what his current expression was. “How does that work?”

“The crystals are infused with a fair amount of quintessence,” was the response given. “One crystal can keep a shuttle going for decaphoebs, hence why they’re still operable to begin with!”

While Stan wasn’t sure what the word _decaphoeb_ meant, the context Coran used it with, along with Allura’s usage of the word the day before, implied that it might be the Altean equivalent of a year. He wasn’t sure what “quintessence” was either, though the word sounded familiar. It was probably some kind of power source.

Coran’s attention wandered to the _Arrow_. “Now, this is the first Earth ship I’ve seen. Do they all typically look like this?”

“It’s what a star-racer usually looks like,” Stan replied guardedly.

“Aha, so it’s a specialized ship, then!” Coran nodded like he’s just had something confirmed. “How does it work?”

Stan made use of the crate that was left form this morning to get onto the left reactor, which garnered a surprised squeak from the mouse that had been napping there. It was the pink one, which was why he hadn’t seen it right away; he was pretty sure this one was named Chuchule. Stan found himself muttering a quick apology to it, and its nose twitched in response.

“Some parts under the flaps here generate a magnetic field to get her off the ground,” he explained, gesturing to the reactor—he would’ve used the correct term, but the headache that had developed earlier hadn’t gone away, so he honestly wasn’t really feeling up for explaining everything right now. “That part’s typical for vehicles on Earth.”

Coran looked skeptical. “Magnetism, eh? Well, that _definitely_ wouldn’t work very well on Ekkunar…but we might just have some equipment lying around in a storeroom or two that could work on your, ah, star-racer.” He chuckled to himself before proceeding to go on a tirade about a competition he’d gone to somewhere called Nibel Two.

One part in particular snagged Stan’s full attention. Specifically: “If there’s one thing I’ve doubt has changed, it’s that racing ships are always getting upgrades!”

_Upgrades_.

Suddenly, he knew what exactly he’d been trying to think of that morning when the _Arrow_ ’s hyperdrive had come to mind. “Koji, the upgrade plans!”

“The upgrade plans? What about… _oh_!”

Coran paused, tilting his head slightly to one side in a manner that indicated they’d lost him, but before Stan could say anything (they hadn’t had the time to even _think_ about the upgrade plans on Alwas, but now they _did_ have time) Jordan came into the room, followed by Shiro. “So this is where the hangar is,” the former muttered.

The latter caught sight of them first. “Have any of you seen Molly?”

“No,” Koji replied, enthusiasm fading into concern. “Why?”

“I think we might’ve just gone through maybe half of this place trying to find her,” Jordan replied.

Then Chuchule started squeaking frantically, making a show of gesturing to what was left of the glass covering of the cockpit. (That was another thing that needed to get replaced.)

Bemusedly, Stan looked in. “Well, her rocket-seat’s gone, so maybe she went out.” Something was really weird about those mice.

Shiro hissed in a breath. “Coran, do these outfits have any kind of tracking beacon?”

“They do, but I’m not sure the castle’s functional enough to make use of them yet. We’ll have to go check.” He glanced back at Stan and Koji. “Good conversation boys, and I’m glad to see you’ve settled your dispute. You’ll have to tell me more about your Earth ships some other time!”

Both he and Shiro were gone from the hangar shortly after, leaving the three others standing/sitting there quietly for a short time. “He seems okay,” Stan said finally, scratching at the back of his head. Koji nodded, whereas Jordan made a neutral sound.

“He’s better than Miss High-and-Mighty, at least,” the gunner mumbled. Chances were that he was referring to Allura.

Koji looked sideways at him now. “You know she and Coran woke up from a stasis yesterday to find out that their whole planet got destroyed a long time ago, right?”

Jordan looked back at him, and then at the floor. For a few seconds, one of his eyebrows twitched a bit, before he hissed in a breath and blurted “ _Well I guess anyone would act like a jerk after that_.”

Koji really did have a point in saying that, now that Stan was thinking about it too. Jordan looked between the two of them then uncertainly, before asking, “You guys okay now?”

“Yeah,” Stan replied, after glancing down at Koji. “I guess we just had to blow off some steam.” Koji muttered something that Stan didn’t catch completely, but it sounded like an agreement.

Stan looked back at the empty cockpit. _Maybe we should just put a new steering column in while we’re at it._ One with an adjustable seat. And now that his thoughts were more on Molly, Stan found himself wondering just what made her run off like that, too.

The “mind-meld” thing earlier, as freaky as it had been, had brought something else to light, and the question being proffered to Yellow afterwards had been given an affirmative reply: not everything he’d been feeling ever since first flying the Lion had necessarily been his own emotions, or Yellow’s.

It usually would only apply to strong emotions, though there were a few exceptions to it that he didn’t go into. The others were still there, just _much_ _less_ noticeable.

All except for Molly, who was practically invisible in that sense.

* * *

Thankfully, it didn’t take as long as Shiro was thinking it would to find Molly, if only because Red had informed Black where its pilot was. She wasn’t even that far from the castle—a crude road had been hewn along the bluff that the castle was set on, leading all the way down to a forested shoreline.

Molly didn’t seem to have noticed Shiro coming up behind her, but the fact that her discman was blaring loud enough for him to hear from the clearing below was probably why.

He waited until that segment of music was over before saying her name; she flinched, looking over her shoulder at him, while fumbling to turn the device off. “Uh—Shiro? Wh-what are you doing here?”

“Looking for you,” he replied, going to sit next to her. “Jordan was worried.”

She looked first at him, and then up at the sky, seeming as though she’d just noticed that it had since gone from muted blue to orange. “How long was I out here?”

“It’s been a few hours. We should probably get back to the castle.” Molly nodded before standing up, though Shiro noticed a brief flicker of anxiety on her face. Taking a shot in the dark, he added, “If there’s anything you want to talk about, I’m willing to listen.”

She paused mid-step. “It’s nothing. I just needed some space.”

Evasiveness at its finest, and Shiro momentarily found himself thinking of Keith. _I wonder how he’s doing._

Probably not well, if the Kerberos Mission had been reported as a complete failure with the entire team being lost, and that thought sent an unpleasant feeling through Shiro.

…no, Keith would not have taken that well _at all_.

The walk was silent, at least until they’d reached the castle’s entrance. “Stan and Koji aren’t upset with each other anymore,” Shiro mentioned, glancing sideways at Molly. Her focus had been on the distant, mangled remains of Sendak’s warship until he’d said that.

“That’s good,” she muttered, focus on the floor.

Chances were that it was at least two different things on her mind, which may or may not be unrelated, but either way, she probably wasn’t going to talk about either of them. Not until she was ready to.

The others were already in the dining hall when they got there, after making a detour to the hangar so Eva could leave the rocket-seat by the _Arrow_ , and Jordan stood up when he noticed them. “Molly, uh—about earlier…”

She tensed, and he stopped at noticing that, instead opting for sitting down again. Stan and Koji remained quiet, although they exchanged a quick glance.

Overlooking the dispute of earlier, the mechanics worked fantastically well together, and Molly and Jordan appeared to be fairly familiar with one another.

Aside from that, Shiro hadn’t seen much even in terms of _interaction_ outside of that divide, which indicated that Coran’s insistence on team-bonding exercises, as unorthodox as they were, might be sorely needed.

Coran himself had observed the exchange quietly from where he’d been sitting, and once dinner was over with, he ushered them all up to the bridge. Allura glanced over her shoulder at them from where she was working on something before turning to face them fully, clearing her throat, standing up straighter and holding her arms firmly at her sides.

“I owe you all an apology,” she started, voice even. “I was overly harsh on the five of you today. The Lions may have chosen you all to be their Paladins, but you’re also ordinary humans who have had a lot thrust upon you in a very short amount of time, and have found yourselves very, _very_ far from home.”

“I think all of us understand that, Princess,” Shiro said, glancing sideways at the others. Stan and Koji turned their attention to the floor, and Molly mumbled something under her breath. Jordan remained stubbornly silent, glaring to the side.

“But you must understand the severity of our situation,” Allura went on, and the starmap flickered into view as the windows blacked out. Judging by the amounts of swirled and elliptical shapes Shiro could see, it was the entire thing.

She hit another key, and a vast majority of the map changed in color from blue to an orange-red color.

The change of atmosphere in the room was instant. “Those the distress signals you were talking about this morning?” Stan asked uneasily.

“I’m afraid so,” Allura confirmed solemnly. Jordan cursed quietly, and Koji paled. Shiro felt a prick of subdued anger from Black in the back of his mind. “Our goal is to free all of those planets and systems from Zarkon’s control—which means we have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Coran cleared his throat to get their attention, and offered a small, silver medicinal capsule to each of them. “I recall Molly here saying that none of you slept very well,” he said upon seeing their bemused looks. “Just don’t take them until you’re fully prepared to go to sleep, because you’ll be out faster than an angry eakhyhst can sprint!”

* * *

It was almost too much of a relief to finally flop down onto the bed, because today had been exhausting in more ways than one. Physically, it was because she’d woken up so many times the night before she had lost count, and then had to fight through the gauntlet that was today.

Mentally, it was a different story altogether. It hadn’t seemed like anyone had picked up on anything important earlier, which was a _huge_ relief.

Them having to figure out how to “coordinate their thoughts” had an alarming implication to begin with—but it wasn’t just an implication. The whole “mind-meld” thing was a constant affliction, and that was right up there with Eva not knowing what happened to her dad or to Rick, if not _higher_ than that.

There was also the confirmation of just what they’ve gotten into from Allura. One day Eva was a star-racer pilot, and the next she was part of a seven-strong resistance group against extremely-hostile aliens that might even have the Crogs outgunned.

No pressure or anything.

Eva wasn’t sure how long she ended up staring at the ceiling, but she was brought back to the present by a mental poke from Red—and the next thing she knew, she was reliving something. Specifically, when she had first made use of her “Molly” alias.

Which, last she knew, she _had not_ told Red about.

“H-Hey, I never said you could pick through my head!” Eva protested aloud, glaring at the ceiling now, even though it was really aimed at the Lion. Red replied with a wearily-exasperated feeling.

It made an unfortunate amount of sense that it would be next to impossible to keep something secret from a sentient robotic lion that was sharing headspace with her, and Eva stifled a groan when that hit her.

Red then threw a few rapid-fire images at her: Jordan, Stan, Koji, Shiro, Allura, Coran, and the view of the castle they’d had when returning to Arus after getting the Yellow Lion. It was followed by another disconcertingly-realistic flashback.

_“The name’s Ev—it’s_ Molly _, got it Gunner Boy?”_

Eva sat up. “What’re you trying to say?” She actually did have an idea on what the Lion was getting at, but she didn’t like it one bit.

Red psychically rolled his nonexistent eyes, before the first two-and-a-half words were repeated, followed by Coran’s words of  _“There can’t be any secrets between you.”_

Eva’s following act of defiance was to down the capsule Coran had provided them each with, because Red couldn’t bother her about this if she was asleep. The spike of annoyance from the Lion when he realized what she did was all too noticeable.

The first thing she noted about it was that it had a flavoring akin to a bizarre cross between peaches and overcooked spinach.

The second thing was that an angry eakhyhst was _extremely_ fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In regard to the team's bayards, since someone asked on the FFN version:  
> Jordan canonically has a laser-gun in the first/second episodes of OSR and in the final two episodes, hence the blue bayard being close-to-canon. Canon-like is also my safest option for the yellow and green, because…well, I have zero idea on how those two would handle a fight.  
> If anything, the dagger formed by the green one is not the same one that Pidge has. It's a straight blade, for one. Appearance-wise, the yellow one is somewhere between Lance’s and Hunk’s. It’s something of a shotgun, really.


	6. Arc I: Race's End - Champion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fact that Arus isn't as uninhabited as they'd all thought is presented to the team that morning, and that Allura's insistence on them training is proven very necessary when the Galra launch Attack #2.  
> Then there's the ugly detail that they also have a rescue mission to fulfill on top of everything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 11/21/18: this chapter will be mostly rewritten at some point hopefully soon!

The good news was that not only did that sleep medication actually work, Red seemed to have decided to drop the subject. The bad news was that it also seemed to be a “for now” sort of thing.

The Lions as a whole also seemed to enjoy being vague about things, because when Eva had finally decided to ask Red what Voltron even was, he had seemed confused before, for some reason, _embarrassed_.

Now it was more like he was eagerly anticipating something, and wasn’t saying _what_ exactly it was, and what made that worse was that Allura was in on whatever it was, because when Shiro had asked her about it, she’d just smiled and said that they’d _“find out for themselves in time.”_ Coran hadn’t been any help either.

Example #2 was when both Stan and Koji had queried their respective Lions on what exactly they were able to do, and they’d answered by showing their coding.

Stan had bluntly put it as an _instant headache_ , which Koji elaborated on with “If someone ran Altean through a cheap online translator to Latin, then back to Altean, _and then_ put it into binary code, all while being four-dimensional.”

Right now, the five of them were on the training deck again for target practice, though Shiro and Koji were exempt from that since they were restricted to short-range.

That Jordan knew how his bayard worked already was a given, and the target board was pockmarked with small dents by the time he was done showing off.

The red bayard looked just like it had two days ago, being surprisingly lightweight and not unwieldy, but there was also the same problem as two days ago. “I think it’s broken,” Jordan said after a bit, squinting at it.

“I don’t think it would’ve worked at all the first time if it was,” Koji put in. Red proffered a suggestion in the meantime. It was an out-there one, but with the amount of weird and crazy stuff they’d all been bombarded with already, maybe it wasn’t actually as out-there as it seemed.

When Eva reached for the string, her hand was suddenly met with some resistance in the form of a reddish-orange plasmatic arrow that appeared with a flicker of light. “That’s different,” Stan muttered, staring at it.

“It actually isn’t,” Allura said. “That’s how all of the bayards work.” She paused, peering curiously at it. “Though I’ll admit, this is new for me. Molly, why don’t you try to hit the board over there?”

That led to the current problem, which was Eva having _no idea_ how to use a bow. Red seemed questioning, before he pulled up a memory, one that made her cringe inwardly: the second round of the playoffs on Alwas, when Eva had been returning to the pit after a walk, and having made that ill-fated arrangement with Aikka… _who used a bow and arrows_.

Why hadn’t she thought of that herself? (Because she was worried about Aikka too.)

Copying the stance she’d always seen him do was easy enough, but pulling the arrow back took more effort than she thought it would. Nor was she expecting the force of the recoil when she let go of it; the projectile veered off to the side, but it still hit the board, leaving a starburst-shaped scorch mark against the matte-white material. _Prince_ _Aikka makes it look easy,_ she decided, staring at it with some dismay.

“That was a good first try,” Shiro reassured. “You’ll get better with practice.”

“Shiro’s right,” Allura agreed. “Now, Stan, I believe it’s your—” She was interrupted by an alarm going off, and she looked almost confused before waving one hand a bit. A segment of the wall to the side flickered into a screen, showing the courtyard in front of the castle. 

“What is that?” Koji asked, pointing at what had probably tripped the alarm to begin with. It looked almost like a bipedal salamander with ram-horns, warily looking from side to side as it approached the castle.

“I think it might be a native Arusian.”

“Whatever he is, he looks like he’s ready for a fight,” Jordan remarked, pointing out that the apparent-Arusian was also holding what looks like a crude sword.

“Which we will be _avoiding_ unless absolutely necessary,” Allura vetoed sternly. “Alteans believe in peace first.”

“You know Jordan, not every single new alien we meet is an enemy,” Eva put in, glaring at him.

“Well, I’m just being careful,” he retorted, and she sighed irritably. She knew he had his reasons for being that way, but at this point, it was getting more than a little frustrating.

Considering that they were the only humans in any direction for _who-knows-how-many-lightyears_ , seeing nothing but aliens was probably something they were all going to have to get used to.

“If it helps you in any way, Coran will be monitoring the situation from the bridge.” Allura gave Jordan one last sharp look as she spoke, and he huffed a bit in response before she started leading them down to the main hall.

“Wait. Are we even gonna know what he’s saying?” Stan asked when they reached the bottom of the stairs.

“We’ll just have to wait and see,” Allura replied. “Depending on how long they’ve been here, the castle’s translator might have decoded their language already.”

No sooner did the door start opening did Eva hear a startled shriek from outside, followed by a rustling sound.

“There’s no need to be frightened of us,” Allura placated, holding her hands out to show that she was unarmed. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then Eva saw some movement inside the bush, before the Arusian suddenly jumped out into the open.

“I am Klaizap, bravest of our warriors!” he proclaimed, keeping his sword pointed up at them. The fact that he was roughly three feet tall meant he didn’t look as intimidating as he probably thought he did.

Whatever he was saying sounded nothing like Altean, but the translator didn’t have any problems decoding it.

Allura bowed her head slightly in a reciprocating gesture. “I am Allura of Altea. It is a pleasure to meet you, Klaizap. What brings you to my castle?”

Klaizap didn’t answer the question; his eyes widened, and he whispered something that translated as _lion goddess_ before practically throwing himself onto the ground.

“I…” Allura sounded about as put-off as Eva was feeling by that, but she regained her composure in a few seconds. “I think there might be a misunderstanding here. I’m as ordinary as you are, Klaizap.”

Klaizap’s expression cycled through surprise, disbelief, and dismay before he said, “Then we are doomed,” forlornly.

“What do you mean by that?” Shiro asked.

The Arusian looked at him, expression blank, before Allura repeated the question; he shifted anxiously before saying “In the past few sun-cycles, fire has rained onto the land, great beasts had been seen in the sky, and before the last moonrise, a strange creature flew through the forest near the sea.”

It all sounded familiar. Especially the third part. “I, um, think that last one might’ve been me, actually,” Eva admitted, earning another confused look from Klaizap. While she was out on her rocket-seat the day before, she thought she’d passed by an animal or something along those lines, but it must have actually been an Arusian.

“I think _all of that_ was us,” Stan whispered from behind her.

“Klaizap, I believe we owe you and your people an apology,” Allura said. “Could you bring us to your village?” He nodded in response, seeming relieved now, and the princess put a hand up to one of her earrings before saying, “Coran, we’re going to meet with the Arusians. Would you like to come with us?” There was a pause before she turned around. “Coran is going to stay to put the final touches on the castle’s engines and the main turbine. He’d like for one or two of you to remain here to help.”

“Wait, why does the castle have an engine?” Eva asked, confused.

“For the same reason any ship has an engine.” Allura seemed puzzled herself. “Do Earth vehicles run on different layouts?” _Huh?_

There was a three-second pause. “Wait a sec, you mean this _whole thing_ —” Stan pointed at the castle. “Is a _ship_?!”

At the same time, Koji stammered out, “But the—the thrust it would need to even get airborne is _phenomenal_! How does it even…?”

“I’m sure Coran would be happy to answer any of your questions about the castle’s mechanisms,” Allura said in response, amused, and they both stared at her for a few seconds before identical looks of realization crossed their faces. The next thing Eva knew, they had both run back inside.

“Huh. Those two can move pretty fast when they want to,” Shiro observed.

“I guess so,” Eva agreed, while Jordan said “Have fun getting them back outside.”

She silently agreed with Jordan on that; the furthest Stan and Koji had ever gone from the pit on Alwas was to the lake, aside from when they had gone with her father to talk to the race judges.

Then Shiro asked “Princess, aren’t the prisoners rescued from Sendak’s ship going to be awake soon?”

“They are, yes.” Allura paused. “Oh…someone’s going to have to explain everything to them.”

“I can do that,” Eva offered immediately—that would be her chance to ask them if they knew anything about Alwas—and she turned to start back in.

She managed to hear Shiro say “They recognized me when we set them free before. I need to know how,” and heard Jordan start protesting before she was too far from them to hear anything past that.

Eva had only been to the infirmary one other time since they’d first met Allura and Coran two days ago ( _quintants_ , a day was equal to a quintant, that would be good to remember). While the latter had said that the pods were primarily used for medical purposes by means of somehow shutting off everything but cellular regeneration, it had still been more than a little disconcerting seeing anyone in one, just…standing there.

They’d both made in there in time for them to start opening up automatically, and spent the next two minutes helping the rescued aliens get settled. They all looked dazed and disbelieving now, as though they were having trouble comprehending where they were.

Eva took a deep breath once they were all situated. _It’s now or never._ “H-Have any of you heard anything about a planet called Alwas?”

Quiet, confused murmuring came in response from them, and one—tall and gray-skinned with four arms, he’d introduced himself as Xi—looked apologetic before saying, “I only once heard it from a passing guard patrol. They spoke of a large-scale attack that resulted in many being taken prisoner from there, but aside from that, I do not know anything.”

“Oh. Thanks anyways.” Her voice dropped into a mutter at the end. _Many taken prisoner_. That was not reassuring at all. Plan B: “What about anyone else like me or Shiro?”

“I never learned their names, but there were two other Earthlings that arrived with Champion.” Shiro’s teammates. Not what Eva specifically had been hoping to hear, but Shiro visibly perked up.

“ _Champion_. Why do you keep calling me that?” he asked.

The aliens all stared at Shiro in disbelief, before Xi finally said “You really don’t remember,” in an incredulous tone.

“I can’t remember a lot of things right now.” Shiro hesitated before asking, “What’s the story behind the name? Do you know?”

“I was there that day, as was the younger Earthling you arrived with,” the alien began. “The day you earned the name _Champion_ was the day we were all set to fight an infamous Galra gladiator known as Myzax. He was a vile beast, one many thought could never be defeated. The other Earthling was the first of us sent to fight, but you were bloodthirsty to the point that you injured him before he could.”

 _What?!_ To the side,  Shiro looked both disbelieving and horrified. “That—that can’t be true. I-Is there anything else to it? Where was Matt taken afterwards?”

“I know not, but that is what occurred.”

Had Shiro really done something like that? He didn’t seem like the type of person that would do that. Then again, he had amnesia…but at the same time as _that_ , Eva felt as though she wouldn’t have trusted him so easily if he was any way like that.

For a few seconds, Shiro himself stood there looking like he wanted to ask more questions, before he shook his head and started out of the room, muttering “The ship that crashed should have prisoner logs on it.”

_And we could go check it for any information!_

Silently glad that he’d thought of the one thing she hadn’t and changed the topic while doing so, she exclaimed “H-Hey, wait for me!” before following him.

* * *

Jordan had since deduced that today wasn’t going to be much better than yesterday.

The Arusian was ogling everything in the castle in amazement—Allura had said that it would be a lot faster if they took the Blue Lion to the Arusian village, hence why they were heading to her hangar in the first place—and he’d tossed himself onto the floor again when they got to Blue.

Blue had seemed surprised by that. And amused.

As for the Arusian village itself, it was situated in a valley just over a large hill that would be visible from the castle—which might be why they were apparently still in range of the castle’s translator. The area around it was thickly forested, which was why they _couldn’t_ see it from the castle. Allura stepped forward to look closer at the displays, before pointing to a clearing near the village. “That looks like a good place.”

Jordan didn’t reply—he was thinking more about getting Blue down there without hitting any trees, since she was adamant about _him_ doing the steering this time.

Below, the other Arusians were watching them approach with side eyes, and by the sound of it, they all had the same idea that Klaizap did, and that was proven true when an important-looking one stepped forward.

He faced Allura before saying “Oh Lion Goddess, I, King of the Arusians, formally beg your forgiveness.” Nope, Jordan was just part of the background right now. “Please have mercy on us, and accept our traditional Dance of Apology as atonement for our wrongdoings!”

That was when things went sour for real.

“There’s really no need for that,” Allura started, holding her hands up slightly.

All that did was send a visible wave of panic over all of the little guys, and a there was a rushed “Start the sacrificial fire!” from the self-proclaimed king. _Wait, what?!_

“H-hold on a second, isn’t that a little extreme?!” Jordan stammered, startled. They seemed confused at his outburst, glancing nervously at one another—and then he remembered that they didn’t have translators, and therefore couldn’t understand a single word he said.

 _Geez, I think they’re further behind than the Scrubs are._ Then again, the events of the past few days probably gave them multiple heart-attacks, and…well, _maybe_ Jordan was feeling a little guilty about all of that. It wasn’t like he’d known anyone lived here, though.

“So we may proceed with the dance?” the king asked hesitantly.

“That would be preferable,” Allura replied, before whispering “We should probably be careful how we word things for now.”

 _Not like I can say anything to them anyways,_ he thought, glancing away. Then Blue gave him the mental equivalent of a smack on the back of the head, and he had to bite his tongue to keep himself from yelping out loud.

 _What was that for?_ he thought, trying to direct it at the Lion. (Of the few-so-far sci-fi things to turn out to be possible, one of them was telepathy. It was really confusing and seriously headache-inducing.)

Blue sent another stern feeling in response, before he found an image of the red-shaded starmap from yesterday being shoved to the forefront of his brain, followed by a series of vague impressions that conveyed a somewhat-clear answer: they didn’t have time for petty arguments.

As much as he didn’t like it, Jordan had to admit that the Lion had a point. “Okay, fine,” he muttered, conceding. He guessed it was only fair that he gave Allura another chance, since she’d given a good-enough first impression for an alien. (Blue did a mental facepalm.)

The sound of Allura clearing her throat followed all of the Arusians bowing after the one in front had finished the apology-dance, and she said “Please rise,” in an even tone. “There is no need to apologize to us. Rather, it is I who should be apologizing to you—we put you in grave danger these past few quintants, even if it had been wholly unintentional.” Confused murmurings met her words.

“But the great beasts,” the king started, puzzled. “Have they not been sent to punish us for our immoral ways?”

“The Lions? Of course not! In fact, they are here to protect you.” The collective mood of the Arusians visibly brightened at those words, and Allura sighed before glancing sideways at Jordan, quietly adding, “I think we may be the first non-Arusians they’ve ever seen.”

That also made a startling amount of sense. A memory from the first day on Alwas came up unbidden: _“Don’t forget, we’re here as ambassadors,”_ Rick had said. The same would go for this, now that Jordan was thinking about it (and forcibly turning his thoughts away from the whole _are-Rick-and-Don-okay_ problem).

…suddenly, this whole thing looked a whole lot more ominous. The loud sound that echoed from high up in the air didn’t help with that, and Jordan looked up to see an orange streak in the sky.

 _That’s probably not good._ Blue agreed, bristling.

Allura took one momentary look at it before saying, “You go take a closer look at that, while I get the Arusians to safety!”

Jordan had been planning on doing that anyways.

* * *

It had taken roughly three apprehension-choked minutes to reach the chunk of the ship that Shiro somehow managed to recognize as having been part of the bridge with the Lions, which was sitting squarely in the middle of what may have once been a large pond, if the half-rotted fish were any indicator.

The metal outside of it was scorched in most places, and the interior already had piles of loose soil scattered about, blown in by the wind.

Molly had seemed hesitant as they’d approached it, though it had quickly subsided. She was currently investigating every inch of an intact console that was miraculously upright. Finally, she stated “It’s dead,” in an irritated tone. “We’d need something to power it if we want to see anything on it.”

“Just power?” Shiro mused, eyeing his prosthetic. The first time activating it on Sendak’s ship had been…not pleasant, but the second time, and this present occasion, garnered barely more than a pins-and-needles feeling. Whatever the case, he had a hunch that he could use it to interface with Galran tech.

The hunch was proven correct shortly after: the console lit up the moment he touched it. While she’d initially been staring in wide-eyed astonishment at Shiro, Molly quickly turned her attention to the holoscreens, scowling at seeing that it was all in Galran. “Can you read any of this?” she asked.

“A little bit.” He reached over to the console screen to press a few keys, which brought up a list. It was the prisoner registry, segmented into smaller lists, distinguished primarily by numbers. “Try the first one.” Molly nodded a bit, and the icon blinked twice before expanding. Her breath hitched when she saw the images that accompanied each file.

“Are those the ones from…?” Shiro started.

“Alwas,” she confirmed, voice faint, and started scrolling down. 

Matt (He couldn’t have attacked Matt. Could he?) wouldn’t be in that list, but the other two members of the Earth’s team in the Great Race of Ōban might be. Molly paused momentarily a few times now and then, and stopped altogether for a few seconds at seeing one in particular, her eyes widening in dismay.

It took a bit for Shiro to recognize the one she was looking at as a Nourasian. “You know him?”

“Prince Aikka,” was her quiet response. “He…he was one of the others competing in the race.” An even quieter mumble was something Shiro barely caught the word “friend” in, and she shuddered before continuing to scroll down.

A loud crashing sound from high above captured Shiro’s attention, and he looked up, squinting against the sunlight. He quickly picked out a large, flaming projectile hurtling through the atmosphere, and while he was no astronomer, it looked like it was heading straight for them.

“Molly, we need to—” Shiro stopped when he saw that she was staring almost blankly at the holoscreen now, face white as a sheet, and he hissed in a breath when he saw _why_ she looked so frightened now: the last two images in the list were the other two of their racing team.

Another glance up showed that _yes_ , that flaming thing was heading right for them. “Molly, we have to get out of here!”

“What?! No, I have to find out where they are!” she shouted, looking frantically over the keyboard. Shiro silently apologized before grabbing her by the back of her flight-suit’s collar and yanking her away from the console, which powered off the moment his prosthetic broke contact. “ _No_! Shiro, why did you—” She broke off with a frightened exclamation at seeing the impending danger, and then they were both shooting ahead with assistance from the jetpacks, but it was too slow, not fast enough—

Then Shiro saw a blur of movement in front of them, right before everything seemed to explode. Dust went flying everywhere, and his ears were left ringing by the sound of the impact of the big and probably-Galran thing had just crashed onto Arus had made.

When he managed to pick himself off of where he’d been thrown to the ground and got his eyes open, it was in time to see both the Black Lion and the Red Lion return to their standing positions; Red had his head angled to look at them, while Black was looking toward something behind them. “They saved us,” he said aloud, surprised and thankful. _I didn’t know they could do that._ Black sent a vague sort of protective affection as a response, but she was clearly tense.

Molly was staring in clear dismay at the _now-completely-demolished_ remains of the bridge, though her attention flicked over to the projectile before she asked “What is that thing?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like the look of it.”

As if on cue, the structure opened up. Inside was some sort of biomechanical creature, much smaller than the battlecruiser, but still slightly larger than the Lions, having six limbs.

It fell from an upright position onto its four legs, rendering it standing closer to the ground. Five horizontally-set eyes lit up a dull silver, focusing on Shiro and Molly, and the mechanisms in each eye constricted; that was enough of a warning for Shiro. “Get in your Lion!” She turned on her heel in response, beelining for Red.

Shiro hadn’t even taken three steps inside of Black before she lurched to the side on her own; reaching the cockpit showed that the monster has a total of six laser cannons, two set into its forearms and two each on its shoulders. From the display screens, he could see that its back was covered in not only armored plating, but long, sharp-looking spines as well, like some sort of porcupine/armadillo hybrid.

A glint of blue in the sky signaled the arrival of the Blue Lion, which halted abruptly at getting closer. _“What the heck is that thing?”_ Jordan sounded somewhere between baffled and disgusted.

“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure the Galra are behind it,” Shiro replied, swerving away from another laser blast. Below, the monster whirled around to charge at the Red Lion, lowering its diamond-shaped head to charge, its jagged horn acting as a lance. It moved faster than Shiro would have thought it would be able to, though the Red Lion was far nimbler, leaping to the side.

 _“Say no more,”_ Allura said over the comm. _“I’ll have Stan and Koji out there soon.”_

* * *

It turned out that Coran had spared them yesterday, while he’d been leading the way down to one of the castle’s four secondary engines: the man could _talk_.

The upside to him chattering seemingly incessantly was that Stan now knew that the five engines, all powered by the main turbine, were split between the towers holding the hangars for the Lions, and they had three settings—launch boosters, atmospheric flight, and deep-space.

The castle— _castleship_!—was also roughly ten-thousand and six-hundred decaphoebs (years?) old, and had been designed by Coran’s grandfather, and Coran himself had witnessed it being built.

That also meant that Alteans lived for a very long time, and that Coran himself was older than six-hundred. He didn’t give either Stan or Koji a chance to ask, though, because he didn’t stop rambling about the castle until they’d reached the engine in the Blue Lion’s tower.

They’d passed through the generator room on the way, which was basically just a walkway that had been flanked on either side by arcs of high-voltage electricity. Coran had been extremely clear in warning them to stay far away from said electricity: _“It’d be quick, but_ very _painful!”_

The engine itself was really just a large, vertically-set oblong metal shell on the outside. The interior looked similar to that of a shuttle’s, save for being on a larger scale. “So what am I looking for, exactly?” Stan asked, looking around inside of it—at the current moment, he was halfway into the panel.

“Any crystals that are out of alignment,” Coran replies, the words being slightly muffled. “They’ll be glowing orange if they are!”

Simple enough—Stan could see three orange ones, but getting to them was a different story; it took him a bit to reach the last one, but all three of them clicked back into place easily. “I figured something was up with those ones,” he said once he’d backed out of the panel.

Coran gave him a cordial smack on the shoulder. “Excellent work! I was thinking we’d move onto the one in the Red Lion’s—”

He didn’t get a chance to finish the sentence before Allura’s tense voice came over the comm. _“Stan, Koji, we need both of you to get out here, now!”_

“Why?” Stan asked, wary. If her tone was any indicator, something had just gone very wrong outside.

_“We’re under attack by some sort of monster—Shiro, Molly, and Jordan are already confronting it.”_

“You two had best do as she says,” Coran said quickly. “I can handle the rest.”

Stan had to stifle an irritated sigh, and he heard a barely-muffled one from Koji. _Of course_ something had to happen, and…and they weren’t in a position where they could stay on the sidelines anymore.

Yellow was already crouched and waiting in his hangar, and they both saw what Allura meant by _monster_ as soon as the Lion had cleared the top of the tower. Yellow seemed to shudder, a sort of horrified curiosity coming from him.

As occupied with the other three Lions as it was, it saw them coming, and both Yellow and Green had to dive sharply to either side to avoid a barrage of spikes launched from its back; the spikes were almost immediately replaced by new ones.

The color-scheme of the biomechanical monstrosity glowering at them and the fact that the laser-cannons embedded into its arms and sides were similar to that of the ruined battleship’s implied that it was connected to the Galra. _“See if you can find it’s weak spot!”_ Shiro ordered.

They tried to—all of them did—but every single laser blast from any of the Lions either bounced off or simply dissipated against the thing’s shell, and the amount of sharp spines on it ruled out having Yellow try ramming it. Earthbound (or Arus-bound) as it was, it seemed content to just hunker down and open fire on them from where it stood.

Practically everything on it was covered in some way, even its face, and the way its eyes were set on its head meant it could see them coming from almost any direction, and…its eyes didn’t look guarded at all. Stan wasn’t the only one to notice that, either.

 _“Jordan, see if you can hit its eyes,”_ Koji suggested.

 _“Got it!”_ was the response given. Jordan was a great shot, but would that still apply when he was also technically flying a ship?

The answer to that was _for the most part_ : of the five rounds fired from the Blue Lion’s tail, two of them hit home on an eye each, which elicited a howl from the creature that sounded more like tearing metal than anything alive.

 _“Ha!”_ the gunner crowed. _“Didn’t like that too much, did y—AAAGH!_ “ He broke off in a startled scream right before the Blue Lion took the full brunt of all of the thing’s lasers, being sent flying a half-mile and gouging a trench into the plain, stopping just before a series of gray-stone hills that were precariously close to what Stan assumed was the Arusian village.

For a few moments, everything seemed to just _stop_ , with Shiro breaking out of it first. _“Jordan, are you alright?”_

“ _Yeah,”_ was the grunted response as the Blue Lion stood up in the small crater it had made, cyan sparks flickering across it. _“Spiky hits hard!”_ His tone took on a panicked edge when he added _“And I’m not sure I wanna know how hard he_ really _hits!”_ when the thing started charging at Blue.

Stan didn’t have a chance to even think about what to do then, because Yellow acted for him in firing on the thing alongside the other Lions, with a blaze of muted anger being the only forewarning. At the same time, he thought he heard Molly shout something—and then Red had fired a crimson-hued ray that hit the creature right in the middle of its back.

Forget howling, this time it _screeched_ when the metal plating melted, the spikes becoming misshapen in seconds. _“Molly, how did you do that?”_ Koji asked after a moment.

 _“I…I’m not sure,”_ was the hesitant reply from her, a surprised sort of revulsion in her voice.

 _“We’ll figure it out later,”_ Shiro said as the Blue Lion flew up to join them. _“Now’s our chance—hit it with everything we have!”_

The liquefied armor couldn’t hold up against the Lions longer than a minute before the shots started getting through, and the creature finally staggered, screeched again, and dropped, its one non-smoking eye dimming shortly after.

Two minutes of the creature not moving crept by before they all stepped outside of the Lions. The thing was a lot bigger up close, and aside from the molten metal, a small amount of viscous-looking violet fluid was leaking from places where the spines had dislodged.

Long story short, it looked pretty dead.

“Is this gonna happen a lot?” Jordan asked, looking shaken but otherwise fine. “It’s gonna really suck if it is.”

“It probably will,” Shiro replied grimly. “We’ll have to stay alert for anything else like this.”

That earned a groan in response. “I had a feeling you were gonna say that.” Jordan paused, looking at him and Molly. “What were you guys doing out here, anyways? Weren’t you gonna check on…” He trailed off, for probably the same thing that immediately had Stan feeling worried.

Molly had paled considerably, gaze turning to the ground, and Shiro’s expression changed into an uneasy grimace. “We were able to get a look at some of the records in Sendak’s ship before it was destroyed,” the Black Lion’s pilot said grimly. “The other two of your team—they hadn’t been able to get away.”

* * *

The hangar was almost silent, aside from the mechanics working almost feverishly on a few smaller pieces of equipment, next to one of the shuttles. It wasn’t unlike Jordan’s focus currently being entirely on practicing with his bayard on the training deck, when Shiro had gone to check on him.

The unease radiating from them was almost palpable, to the point of being indistinctly noticeable beyond Black’s presence. Shiro wasn’t sure if they had seen him come into the hangar, though Stan looked up at him at one point, pausing in what he was doing.

“Before you ask, I don’t know where Molly is,” he said.

“I was actually wondering what you two were doing,” Shiro replied.

They clearly hadn’t expected that, glancing at each other for a few moments. Koji fidgeted with his glasses a bit before saying, “We were thinking about testing a prototype for the new hyperdrive on this thing, since it wouldn’t really do much good on the _Arrow_ right now.” Finding something to do to distract themselves from everything. It made sense.

“So did they know anything about…?” Stan didn’t finish, but Shiro didn’t have a doubt on what it was.

“No. One of them heard it mentioned, but that was it.” The rescued prisoners had also been given a shuttle in order to get back to their homes; the empty space at the end of the hangar was now taken up by a motley assortment of larger equipment that Coran had taken out for the mechanics to make use of. The orange-haired Altean was surprisingly strong, given his slight build.

Shiro briefly eyed the crippled star-racer before asking, “You two seem pretty familiar with this kind of stuff.”

“Well, yeah. We’ve been helping Miguel in the garage since we were…” Stan paused. “What, nine? Ten?”

He lowered his voice a bit, looking dubiously at Koji, who shrugged before saying, “I think?”

“You two must’ve known each other for a long time, then,” Shiro noted.

There was another pause, both of them seeming a little tense now. _I guess that’s a little too personal to discuss right now._ Stan looked momentarily distracted then, before putting a hand up to his face. “Miguel’s gonna pitch a fit when he finds out what happened to the _Arrow I_.”

“When,” Koji repeated in a mutter. Cue the melancholy mood returning.

“I’m sure we’ll be able to contact anyone on Earth at some point,” Shiro reassured. “Allura said that we’re going to be leaving Arus tomorrow.” That caught their undivided attention, both of them staring at him again.

“Where are we going?” Stan asked.

“That’s what I’m _not_ sure about.” While Allura hadn’t specified the answer to that when Shiro had asked that himself, she’d mentioned something else earlier. “And just a quick heads-up: she invited the Arusians up to see the castle tonight. She was pretty clear about wanting all of us to be there.”

There were two barely-stifled groans of irritation given in response to that.

* * *

Eva gritted her teeth together before throwing another rock off the edge of the long-since-collapsed stone bridge, watching it vanish into the ocean below. Rick and her dad could be _anywhere in the universe_ right now, and they didn’t even know where to _start_ looking.

All they knew was that the Galra had them, and from what they knew about the Galra already…

She exhaled sharply, turning the discman off. Not even her music was helping—and it had occurred to her earlier that there was no way for her to get new batteries for it right now, which means it was only a matter of time before it stopped working. Which meant she had to be careful on how much she used it.

So today was really just going _fantastic_ so far, and it couldn’t even really be considered afternoon yet!

Flying might help, but the _Arrow_ wasn’t working right now, and Eva wasn’t sure she wanted to be in the Red Lion right now. Not after earlier’s reminder that Red was a weapon in himself.

“Pull yourself together, Eva,” she muttered, rubbing at her eyes with the heel of one hand. She couldn’t let the others see her this close to going to pieces—and that thought was partially why a chittering sound from directly to her left almost made her jump right up into standing.

When she looked, it was only two of the mice, and it was either just her, or they looked worried. “I’m fine,” she said aloud. “Really, I…” The green one (Platt) had tilted its head to one side slightly, and the red-eyed one (Plachu) was definitely giving her a deadpan look of _I-don’t-believe-you_.

Well…as weirdly-smart as they seemed to be, it wasn’t like they could talk. She sighed heavily before saying, “I’m just—I’m just worried, okay?”

“You too, huh?”

“Wha’—Jordan?!” She hadn’t heard him coming, though she quickly masked her surprise at seeing him, feeling both mice scurry up to her shoulder. “I-Is something wrong?”

Jordan shook his head. “No, I just—I wanted to say thanks. For earlier.”

“It was nothing.”

He walked over to sit next to her before saying “ _Nothing_ was you getting Red to practically melt that thing!” Jordan gestured with one hand in direction of where the monster was before pausing, looking sideways at her before saying, “I guess the Lions have a few tricks up their sleeves.”

“I guess so,” she muttered in agreement, thinking back on it. All Eva could really remember of those few seconds before it had happened was that she’d been completely focused on stopping that thing from hitting the Blue Lion, and Red had responded directly to that intent. She’d definitely _felt_ something when it happened—first and foremost being Red’s presence going from _campfire_ to _bonfire_ —but like many other things involving the Red Lion, she didn’t know how to put words to it.

“They’re definitely not your everyday ship,” Jordan said, glancing back at one of the towers—she couldn’t really be sure which one it was, but it was probably the Blue Lion’s. Then, “We’ll find them. Somehow.”

“Yeah,” she agreed quietly, absently reaching up to scratch Platt between the ears when something else occurred to her. “Hey, at least we’re in this together, right partner?”

“You got that right.”

_And at least today couldn’t possibly get any worse._


	7. Arc I: Race's End - Storm the Castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team discovers the hard way that Sendak is alive, with Stan being injured in the process. While things on Arus are tense, the same could easily be said for Jordan's and Coran's endeavor to find a new crystal on a Balmera, which is found to be under Galran control. Eva is also faced with a dilemma of her own, upon learning something about Allura.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’ve seen Ep4 of VLD, you'll know what's coming. Also consider this a forewarning as to why I have that archive warning.

Allura had at least warned them that they wouldn’t have much of the night to themselves, after he and Molly had gone back inside. Throughout the rest of the day, Jordan had seen a few Arusians carting various lidded baskets and kegs up to the castle, which he later learned contained actual food.

It was mostly plants and some salted fish, which Coran and Allura had both helped move to either one of the two kitchens the castle had, or one of the various storage rooms.

Coran had also seemed happy about something after coming out of one of the castle’s kitchens, holding a pitcher (at least, Jordan assumed it was a pitcher) of… _something_ that left Jordan feeling a bit dizzy after getting a whiff of it.

The main hall was far from silent right now, mostly because it seemed like the Arusians had put more effort into their costumes than the rehearsal; Jordan winced when the one in the outfit that resembled the Blue Lion tripped on his feet again.

“At least there were good intentions behind it,” was the comment from Koji when the reenactment was finished, and Stan mumbled some agreement—both of them really looked like they’d rather be somewhere else right now.

“So how long are they all gonna be here?” Jordan asked, glancing around.

“I don’t know,” Molly replied, before looking around as well. “Where’d Shiro go?”

“He said something about doing a perimeter check a few minutes ago,” Jordan replied. He’d honestly wanted to do the same thing, but Shiro had asked him to stay inside. Sure, the Arusians probably couldn’t do anything worse than breaking a few dishes here and there (which had happened once already) but something like that monster earlier could easily happen again. “I thought he would’ve been back by now, though.”

Koji hesitated before saying “I, uh—I’ll go look for him. It’s getting a little crowded in here,” and heading for the door, Rover tailing after him.

Well, Koji didn’t seem like someone that would like crowded places very much anyways. Stan watched him go for a few seconds, before saying, “I’m just wondering where we’ll be going after this.”

Jordan turned to look at him. “What are you talking about?”

“Shiro was talking ‘bout it earlier. We aren’t staying on Arus.”

“Seriously?” Molly sounded somewhere between surprised and apprehensive, before addressing Coran, who was standing a bit off to the side. “Where _are_ we going?”

“That’s still a matter for debate,” he replied. “It’ll be wherever the princess decides we’re needed most.” Up at the top of the steps, Jordan saw Allura give something to the Arusians’ leader; he didn’t really hear much, but it sounded like it was some sort of emergency communicator.

To the side, Stan warily eyed a cup of the stuff Coran had set out on one of the tables before trying whatever was in it. He made a very obvious effort in swallowing whatever it was, before turning to face the Altean. “Coran, what _is_ this stuff?”

“Oh, just some freshly-made nunvil! It was quite popular throughout the sector—”

“ _It tastes like engine oil_.”

Stan seemed to realize what he’d said a few seconds later, glancing over his shoulder at Jordan and Molly, before quickly adding “Uh, d-don’t ask how I know that!” and near-running toward the stairs.

“Does it really?” Coran looked flabbergasted, scratching his head a bit, before his attention jumped to two Arusians who were messing with one of the hovering dish-carrying things. “Oh dear. Excuse me one moment!”

“Okay then,” Jordan muttered, confused.

“Think Koji knows the story behind that?” Molly asked.

“Maybe.”

Molly’s attention wandered to the pitcher on the table. “Something can’t taste _that_ bad, can it?”

Jordan shrugged. “One way to find out.”

* * *

It had been a rocky first few quintants, that much was definite—and by this point Allura was getting more than a little tired of having to rely on the basic translator to know what the paladins were saying.

Thankfully, a progress check a few vargas earlier showed that the castle had decoded a fair amount of their language by now—enough so that the primary translator could be activated, instead of having to rely on the physical ones. There were still a few missed words here and there, but only for a few times before the translator matched the context to the right word.

Well, _languages_ actually. Shiro spoke one, the other four spoke another, and both Shiro and Koji seemed to know a third one, though it was rarely used.

The first two sounded similar enough so that they could’ve potentially been different dialects of the same language, with one being more prominent on one planet and the other on a different planet—there was (had been) a few branches of Altean that formed over time in a few of the colonies. But the third sounded too different.

“I suppose I could ask them,” she mused aloud, the mice vocalizing their agreement. While off to a somewhat-rocky start, things were already showing signs of improvement—even though he’d seemed to have taken the events of the prior quintant personally, Jordan appeared to have forgiven her for it now, at least to a degree.

According to Coran, both Stan and Koji were making attempts at learning how Altean technology functioned, which would be useful in the long run, considering the inevitable event that further repairs would have to be made to the ship.

Molly remained somewhat of an enigma, however, as did Shiro. Shiro had certainly stepped up to his responsibilities as the Black Paladin, but there was the detriment of him being mostly unfamiliar with the others, as things were currently standing.

From what Allura had seen of Molly so far, Red really did seem to have found the perfect match in her. She had no shortage in confidence—but at the same time, she rarely spoke to anyone apart from Jordan.

Even then, it seemed almost as though Jordan didn’t know very much about her either, from when he’d first described her to Allura.

There was a similar dilemma with Stan and Koji, in not really interacting with anyone aside from one another on their own volition.

 _I can’t let any of them see how concerned I really am about all of this,_ she thought grimly. Ten-thousand decaphoebs was a staggering amount of time, more than enough for Zarkon to do plenty of damage to the universe as a near-whole, and they still haven’t figured out how to form Voltron—and if they didn’t trust each other enough, they wouldn’t be able to.

They didn’t exactly know what Voltron _was_ yet either, but Red’s flustered sheepishness regarding that subject earlier was an explanation all on its own.

Chulatt squeaked questioningly from Allura’s shoulder then, startling her slightly. The one side-effect of sharing a cryopod with the mice that directly affected her was something she still hadn’t adapted to. “Let’s keep that a secret, okay?”

Below, she saw both Molly and Jordan tentatively try Coran's homebrewed nunvil, only to spit it out ticks later, both of them looking _thoroughly_ disgusted.

Another squeak piqued her curiosity. “Who else has secrets?” The smallest mouse went first, acting out an observation of who Allura quickly understood to have been Jordan. “That doesn’t surprise me,” she admitted; he’d seemed pleased with his bayard’s initial form, so going all-out in self-imposed practicing with it made sense. “What else is there?”

Chuchule went next, and her observation was more amusing than anything. “I thought they’d seemed fond of it,” Allura said, stifling a laugh. She hadn’t seen much of the ship that the new paladins had been making use of in the Great Race, which she recalled Molly once referring to as the _Arrow_ , but Stan and Koji speaking of it as if it were a child was unexpectedly adorable.

Then Plachu made his addition to the list, and for a few moments, Allura had to make sure she didn’t misunderstand what the mouse had not-quite-said.

“What do you mean, that’s not actually her name?”

* * *

The unfortunate thing about the console on the bridge was that, like everything else in the castle, it was coded in Altean. Therefore, it displayed everything in Altean.

So far, Stan had figured out how to  **A)** turn the bridge’s lights on,  **B)**  turn exterior display panels on and off, and  **C)**  bring up the security cameras, of which there were  _a lot_ of. The ones that had come up first were more than likely considered the most important areas, which included the Lions’ hangars.

Attempt #4 was the one that got the starmap to come up, filling the whole room. It took Stan a few minutes to find where Arus was on it, but someone saying “I had a feeling this was where I’d find you,” from behind him makes him start a bit. “You seem to be figuring this out pretty well by yourself,” Coran noted.

“It’s actually not that different from what we have on Earth. It’s just in a different language that I have no idea how to read.” Stan looked around at the starmap. “Where’s Earth on this again?”

“Right over here.” The Altean stepped over to the far right side of the room, pointing up at a small spiral shape. “It’s on the upper-left corner as the map is right now.” Coran paused, glancing sideways at him. “I suppose you’re feeling a bit homesick.”

Stan stood a bit more rigidly in response without thinking about it—that had hit the nail right on the head. “I didn’t even know a number could  _get_ that long,” he admitted, making a vague hand gesture at the starmap. “I knew we’d be gone for a—a few months maybe, but now I just…I don’t know.”

The sheer size of the full starmap was  _intimidating_.

“I won’t sugarcoat it for you in saying that it’ll likely be quite a while.” Coran hummed thoughtfully before adding, “I’m sure you'll get a chance to contact any family at some point.” As if to agree, Yellow sent a hopeful feeling.

That honestly wasn’t very reassuring, like when Shiro had said almost the same thing earlier, but Stan decided against saying that out loud.

There was only one person back on Earth worth contacting for him and Koji, and while Jordan had mentioned his mom, uncle, and two cousins in passing, Molly had never said anything about her relatives.

 _Maybe we should try talking to those two a bit more,_  he thought, gaze momentarily falling on the current center of the map, which reminded him of something. “Hang on a sec. How do you even know about the Great Race if…” _If Alwas and Ōban are so far away from here?_  He found himself unable to finish the sentence, but Coran seemed to pick up on where he was heading with it, looking at the center of the starmap.

“I once visited Alwas with the original Paladins, actually.”

“Really?” Stan turned his full attention onto Coran now, for two reasons—one being the statement in itself, which explained a bit as to how he knew some things about the Avatar, and the other being that he’d mentioned the previous Lion pilots.

Aside from him mentioning a name that might’ve been one of them (Trigel?) the day before, neither he or Allura had said anything specific.

Coran nodded, a bit distant. “We were there during the Pre-Selections, actually.” He stopped, laughing almost nervously while straightening his jacket collar, before adding, “Well, for the Race before this current one, anyways.”

And now Stan was feeling guilty for asking. He mumbled an apology, which gave Coran pause. “No, no, it’s—it’s quite alright," the Altean said, quashing the weariness that had crept into his tone. “You’ve all been pulled into this situation without any consent, and you’ll have to learn more about it at some point.”

 _At some point_  more than likely meant  _not yet_. Yellow was pensive in the back of his head, bordering melancholy, but he was suddenly at attention as Stan was following Coran off the bridge; Stan found his attention being pulled to Rover hovering towards the crystal on the ceiling that powered the castle.

Rover, which currently seemed only capable of following Koji everywhere, and Koji was nowhere in sight.

Which meant  _that wasn’t Rover_.

* * *

Shiro couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen, even though both Allura and Coran had insisted there was nothing to worry about in terms of the Arusians. The latter had also affirmed that the castle’s sensors would now warn them about  _any_  approaching Galra ships, and not just the battlecruisers.

But they still really had no way of knowing when Zarkon would launch another attack on them.

Another glance around gave him some pause; he hadn’t noticed that Koji had come outside until just now. He was standing more off to the side, looking out toward the plain where the fallen monster was, though he tensed when Shiro came close enough to be heard coming.

“Is it getting crowded in there?” Shiro asked.

Koji glanced over his shoulder at him before replying, “Sort of.” Shiro quirked one brow slightly, which prompted the technician to add, “There’s something else I noticed earlier, about that…thing. It—it looked familiar, when I looked at it again.”

“Familiar how?”

“Like one of the other pilots from Alwas. I didn’t notice it right away because I only saw him once on the first day in the evening, but it kind of looked like the pilot from Hortlum.”

Something pricked in the back of Shiro’s head—he recognized something about that from somewhere, in a sickening sort of way, but before he could even think about saying anything about it, the ground underfoot bucked violently, coupled with an explosion that undoubtedly came from somewhere inside the castle.

There was a grace period of three seconds before the Arusians inside all stampede back out in a panic, and the interior lights of the castle faded shortly after, as did the cyan highlights on the outside. The dust that had been shaken loose by the blast coated everything in the main hall, Allura, Molly, and Jordan included. “What the heck was that?” the latter asked, sounding panicked.

“I don’t know, but something must be wrong with the crystal,” Allura replied. Shiro had an idea on what it was, and if the dark look on the princess’s face was any indicator, she was thinking the same thing.

At the same time, a sudden sort of uneasy dread had crept over Shiro—an undeniable  _something-is-very-wrong_ sort of feeling. Koji looked around, looking increasingly worried, before finally asking, “Where’s Stan?”

He was nowhere in sight, now that Koji had mentioned him, and neither was Coran.

Allura wasted no time in turning to run up the stairs, the rest of them following closely. Shiro couldn’t make out the distinguishing marks for each hall, but Allura knew the castle better than they all did combined.

When they reached the bridge, which looked as though a bomb had gone off in it, it was in time to see Coran shakily getting to his feet. Shiro stepped over some fallen debris to help steady him before asking, “Coran, what happened?”

“I—I’m not exactly sure, but…” Coran trailed off when he turned around, face falling at seeing the shattered remains of the crystal that powered the castle.

At the same time, there was a wordless sound of panic from Koji, which preceded him, Molly, and Jordan scrambling over to where Stan was lying.

One look and Shiro was certain that Stan would have been a lot worse off if he hadn’t had his flight-suit on—the armored parts had taken the brunt of the blast that had destroyed the crystal, being scorched in some places, though there were still some burns on his hands and face, and the gash near his eye had reopened again.

He wasn’t moving, and while Shiro found a pulse, it was erratic and fainter than what would have been reassuring. “We need to get him to the infirmary,” he summed up aloud.

“That won’t do any good,” Allura said grimly. “Without the crystal, the castle has no power. But how—?”

“Lion Warriors!” The Arusian king skidded to a halt at entering the room, eyes wide in fearful panic. “Our village is under attack!”

“Galra,” Allura hissed, quickly followed by a furious exclamation of “ _That does it_!” from Jordan, a blue flicker of light preceding his bayard materializing in his hand, already in weapon form.

“Princess, can we get to the Lions?” Shiro asked.

“No—their hangars are sealed.”

“W-Will you not help us?” the king asked, frantic. Jordan looked like he was going to make a sharp retort, but Molly elbowed him hard before he could, standing up.

“We can, we just—can’t use the Lions,” she said, voice lowering at the end. She didn’t take her eyes off of Stan.

Allura clenched a fist. “And we need a ship to get a new crystal.”

“Stan and I were working on a shuttle earlier,” Koji said faintly. “I—we—we left the bay doors open because it was getting stuffy in there.”

“I can use the scanner in that shuttle to search for a Balmera,” Coran spoke up, straightening a bit. “Jordan, I’ll need you to come with me.”

“Wait, what?”

“I’ll need someone with a bit of muscle to help me move the crystal when we find it.”

Jordan opened his mouth to protest, but Shiro cut him off. “We’ll handle things back here,” he said, before glancing at Koji. “If whatever you two did to the shuttle is functional, you’ll have to explain it to them. It might come in handy.”

“But I…”

“I’ll keep an eye on Stan. Don’t worry.”

Koji nodded after a few seconds of hesitation, getting up to follow the other two out. “I’ll go help the Arusians,” Allura said. “I brought this on them. Molly, you come with me.”

Molly jolted in place, seeming to realize she was being addressed directly now, and stuttered a bit. “Wh-what about—?!”

“I’m staying here,” Shiro repeated calmly. “Go with Allura—and be careful out there. Who knows what else could happen.”

* * *

“It looks like there’s a Balmera not too far from here,” Coran said, tapping the shuttle's monitor. “We won’t need a wormhole to get there, but it’ll take about a varga.”

“How long is one of those, anyways?” Jordan asked.

“Sixty doboshes.”

 _So…an hour?_ That was assuming that a  _dobosh_ equated to a  _minute_ , but alien time measurements and alien math in general was a ballpark Jordan didn’t want to get into. Especially not right now.

Coran looked sideways at Koji before asking “So what exactly were you two doing to this pod, anyways?”

Koji jumped a bit, coughing forcibly before replying, “W-we were trying to get a prototype for the  _Arrow_ ’s new hyperdrive set up.” He paused, taking a shaky breath. “We thought…well, that we could try putting it on one of these first.”

“A hyper—” Coran sputtered a bit. “These pods aren’t meant to go that fast! The hull could break apart if that was engaged in flight!”

“Don’t use it, then,” was the muttered answer.

Jordan bit his lip—to say that Koji looked close to completely losing it would be an understatement. “H-Hey, I’m sure this’ll all work out,” he tried reassuring. “Stan’s a tough guy.”

Coran hesitated a moment before saying, “We shouldn’t be gone for that long.” No response came, until he added, “You’d best go find Shiro,” which was to simply turn to quickly start back down the hall, though he stopped abruptly when both Molly and Allura walked by, the latter of whom looked somewhere between puzzled and exasperated.

“We’ll get there faster if we use this,” Molly said, presumably in response to a question before starting the rocket-seat. She quickly glanced over at Jordan, a look of grim determination in her eyes. Jordan nodded a bit, giving a small thumbs-up.  _Good luck, partner._

The shuttle’s covering materialized, and the ship jolted a bit as it shot upwards. Blue sent some reassurance as they left the atmosphere, and Jordan took advantage of it to ask a question:  _What is a Balmera, anyways?_

The wordless response was a short, simple sensation that he vaguely translated as  _Ask Coran._

He sighed before doing as such, repeating the words he’d proffered to his Lion out loud. “Glad you asked,” was the response that sounded forcibly cheery. “They’re ancient animals—petrified, but still very much alive!”

“How big are they?”

“Big enough to be mistaken for a small planet.”

“A small—?!” Jordan shut his mouth abruptly, processing that information.  _Well that might just be the weirdest thing I’ll ever see…_

* * *

In retrospect, Eva was very glad she hadn’t put her rocket-seat back into the  _Arrow_ , otherwise it would’ve taken a lot longer to get out to the Arusian village—and she definitely wouldn’t have made it there without Allura giving directions on which pathways to go through the forest. (Allura had also been keeping a  _very_ tight grip on her the whole time, especially on the tight turns around some thickets.)

While the buildings in the village were made out of dried clay, they weren’t holding up very well, and a few taller structures that had been built from wood had toppled over. Allura acted first, jumping off even before the rocket-seat had stopped, asking “Is everyone alright?”

The Arusians that had been huddled at the edge of the bluff overlooking the village all looked okay for the most part, if frightened. One of them took a small step forward, replying “Yes, but Ranet is nowhere to be found!”

Which meant he or she was probably still down there. Eva looked over the village, but the smoke was hiding everything from view, just like when—

 _No,_  she told herself firmly, shaking her head.  _Stay focused._ “I’ll go down there and look,” she said aloud, carefully edging along a narrow path down the cliffside.

“Molly, be careful!” Allura warned. “We have no idea what’s down there!”

 _Like I don’t know that already._  Her helmet sealed itself when she got closer to the smoke, reaching the ground in two minutes. Eva didn’t see any sign of there being anyone or anything, until she’d turned away from the third intact building she’d checked.

She almost jumped, biting back a curse when she saw a Galra sentry looking right at her—but it didn’t do anything. In fact,  _none_ of them were doing anything except standing there, and it was either just her, or some of them were…missing pieces…

_Oh no._

_“Molly, Ranet just came up the path,”_ Allura said.  _“You can—”_

“There’s just a bunch of broken robots down here!” Eva interrupted, a chilling possibility having struck her. “This was just a distraction!”

 _“Then we have to get back to the castle!”  
_ “Yeah, no kidding!” she retorted as she was clambering back up the path. Allura was waiting by the rocket-seat already, and Eva overheard the last bit of her telling the gathered Arusians that there wasn’t a threat aside from the fire in the village, and that it’d be a good idea to just wait it out at this point.

Getting back there was easier than getting to the village—they could see the castle from the village. Her grip on the rocket-seat’s handles tightened when she saw the castle’s highlights glow purple, when they were three-quarters of the way there, and she had to slam the brakes to keep them from crashing into the violet barrier that formed when they reached where the path leveled out. A few choice words went through her head before she asked “Is there another way inside from out here?”

“No,” Allura replied through grit teeth. “And if the castle has power, that means they have a crystal, and they’ll be able to fly the ship.”

“What about Shiro and Koji? They stayed here, didn’t they?”

Allura put one hand up to her earrings in response. “Shiro? Koji? If either of you can hear me, please respond!”

For a few long seconds, there was no response. Then:  _“Allura?”_ It was quiet, with a stressed undertone to it, but the voice was recognizable.

“Koji, what’s going on in there? What happened?”

He stammered a bit before saying, _“Uh, S-Sendak happened.”_ There was a brief pause, the only sound being a quick, shaky breath. _“There’s someone else with him, a-and they have a few sentries, and they brought a crystal in with them.”_

“What about Shiro and Stan?” Eva asked, simultaneous with Allura saying something vehemently under her breath.

She heard Koji’s breath hitch over the comm, and she subconsciously clenched a fist at the following words.  _“Shiro got knocked out. I’m—I’m not sure where they are in the castle right now, but if I had to guess, they’re on the bridge.”_

Eva hissed in a breath—this was  _beyond_  bad—and Red snarled his agreement. “Did they see you at all?” Allura asked.

_“I-I don’t think so.”_

“Good. That means you’re in the perfect position to keep them from taking off.”

* * *

_“You have to get to the control panel and disconnect the power to the main turbine. The entire system will have to be reset manually, which might give us enough time to figure out how to stop them.”_

While it was as quiet as it had always been, the silence had a completely different feeling to it right now. The fact that the castle’s halls were currently lit in a shade of purple exactly like that of the Galra ship from before wasn’t helping.

Shiro was hurt, there were at least two extremely-hostile Galra in control of the castle and getting it ready to take off with everything and everyone in it, and Stan was hurt _worse_.

Koji stopped by the next corner, leaning against the wall to try to catch his breath, and Green sent him a concerned feeling. “I-I’m fine,” he muttered in response, quickly looking to see if there was anything around the aforementioned turn. There wasn’t, so he kept going.

He was fine, but Stan and Shiro weren’t.

Wouldn’t be, if he didn’t somehow manage to do what Allura had said.

The stairs weren’t anywhere near where he had to go, but one of the various elevators was. The problem with that plan was that actually using it would be equivalent to a flashing sign that he was there—but the doors to the shaft were surprisingly easy to get open, and the shaft itself was terraced, which gave him an idea.

After waiting for Rover to hover through the doorway, he carefully jumped down (with assistance from the flight-suit’s jetpack) to the first terrace. He almost overbalanced himself on the third jump, though Rover proved useful in that situation by floating close enough to grab onto. Maybe its AI wasn’t as simple as Koji had initially thought.

What was first noticed about the room was that something was clearly going on: suspended in the center of the circular catwalk was a bluish-white ball of plasma that was both giving off heat and a steady roaring sound that was slowly growing louder—if he had to guess, that was the turbine itself.

“Okay, I—I made it to the room,” he said, raising his voice a bit to hopefully be heard over the background noise. “Now what?”

 _“Open the hatch beneath the control panel,”_ Allura replied. _“That’s where the central computer is.”_ He nodded a bit, crouching to open the panel, and promptly froze up when he saw the second problem, which was even bigger. _“Then, enter the following sequence—”_

“W-Wait a second, it’s all in Altean! Allura, which one is it?” No response came, though if there was, the sound from the turbine would’ve drowned it out. Coran had described the launch sequence to them earlier and that was _definitely_ what was happening now, and he didn’t want to think about what would happen to all of them if he wasn’t able to stop this.

Nothing in the control box looked like it was even _part_ of a computer, aside from the various cylindrical glass tubes that looked like they were carrying an electrical current…and if there was one thing that was probably universal with computers, is was that a power surge would force a safety shutdown.

The bayard was in his hand seconds later, doing as it was programmed to in picking up on which direction his thoughts were heading, the green energy-blade crackling a bit. Koji took a shaky breath, thinking _This is a really stupid idea,_ before jabbing at the closest solid part of the control panel.

The next thing he knew, he was lying flat on his back some ways away from the console, and he had to bite his tongue to keep himself from screaming because _right now it felt like his arm was on fire_.

The good news was that the sound from the turbine had subsided almost immediately, which meant his stupid idea had worked.

A sense of urgency came over from Green— _get out of there_.

Coinciding with that was Allura’s voice over the comm. _“Koji, were you able to disable the turbine?”_

“Yeah,” he got out, voice hitching a bit as he stood up, wobbling a bit. A good way to sum up his current thoughts would be **_ow_**. “I—I think I got it to turn off, actually.”

The princess sounded flabbergasted. _“But how did you—oh, never mind that. There isn’t much time before they’re able to get it up and running again, so you’ll have to move fast. You need to shut off the particle barrier so Molly and I can get into the castle.”_

* * *

One thing became clear to Jordan after about ten minutes, and it was that the whole “mind-link” had a distance limit. The others had become about as invisible as Molly was by now, and something about that was  _unsettling_.

Even Blue’s presence had faded somewhat…but the feeling of something being horribly wrong hadn’t gone away, and that wasn’t helping.

“Can this thing go any faster?” he asked, looking sideways at Coran.

“No, at least not safely.” He scowled a bit at the last part, looking at a key that was off to the side.

Jordan couldn’t help but feel a little impressed with the team’s mechanics, if they’d figured out an alien ship enough to add a new feature within a day.

Something ahead caught his eye then, and he looked forward. “Is that the Balmera thing?”

“It is,” Coran confirmed, visually brightening a bit. “You’re in for a real treat,” he added when the shuttle started diving into the atmosphere, tone reminiscent. “My grandfather often took me out to see these majestic creatures while he was building the castle. The sparkling surface of a Balmera is one of…of the…oh  _no_.”

His voice trailed into a horrified whisper once the shuttle passed the final layer of sulfur-colored clouds, revealing the vast expanse of dark-colored structures and large machinery on the surface, all of which having luminescent purple trims.

Coran gave a short, nervous laugh. “Alright, well, we’ll just have to be a bit more—”

 _“Hailing unidentified craft,”_ a robotic voice intoned over the radio, coinciding with a shadow falling over the shuttle.  _“State your ship ID, entry code, and landing destination.”_

“Now what?” Jordan hissed. Somehow he wasn’t surprised by things turning south like this, given everything that had happened _just today_ already.

He also realized abruptly that he’d never really noticed just how _big_ the Galra fighters were.

“I’ll handle this,” Coran whispered in response, before saying into the comm, “We don’t really need to land—we’re just having a look at the Balmera.”

_“Unidentified craft, land immediately and prepare to be boarded.”_

Coran grimaced before replying, “Okay, see you down below.” Then there was a low “Hang on,” before Jordan could even think about saying anything—and the next thing he knew, the shuttle shot forward hard and fast enough to press him back against the seat a bit, garnering a short, startled scream.

The ship swerved left and right in order to avoid laser shots from the Galra fighter before pitching downwards into a gaping hole in the surface that must’ve been  _at least_ three-hundred feet in diameter, if not larger than that. The downward plunge went on for what felt like two minutes before Jordan asked “How deep does this thing go?”

“You know, I’m actually not— _whoa_!”

Coran shoved the handles to the side, but not fast enough—the side of the shuttle clipped what looked like a metal beam, sending it into a tailspin for a few long moments before it hit something solid, skidding a few feet to one side. Jordan hissed out a breath, rubbing the back of his head, before looking around; the cockpit’s covering had faded when the shuttle had powered off, the ship itself having come to a stop right next to a tunnel.

It was either just him, or he could make out light reflecting off of two sets of eyes in the aforementioned tunnel. His bayard was immediately in his hand when he saw both of them move, and they both paused momentarily before stepping forward.

Both were thickset in build, with stone-like skin and long, muscular arms. Instead of hair, they had rigid carapaces that looked almost like helmets, with small horns. Both wore basic smocks, their two-toed feet bare.

“You are not Galra,” the one on the right said finally, sounding surprised.

“And neither are you,” Jordan replied guardedly. He didn’t know what they were, actually—and he was glad that the earpiece translator wasn’t needed anymore, and that the shuttles had their own built-in translator things.

She tilted her head to one side slightly before saying “I am Shay.” Gesturing to the one next to her, she added, “This one is my brother, Rax.”

“Coran, at your service.” The Altean bowed a bit. “And this here is Jordan.”

“Why have you come here?” Rax asked harshly, scowling.

“Looking for some crystal,” Jordan retorted, scowling back at him. “The sooner we find it, the sooner we’re gone.”

“You will not find any crystals here. Galra have already taken all Balmera has to give, and then they have taken more.”

Jordan glared at him. He was  _seriously_ not in the mood to deal with this guy’s attitude, but before he could say anything else, Shay whispered “Rax, these strangers are enemy to the Galra. If we help them—”

“We will only anger the Galra ourselves if we do. We owe these skylings  _nothing_ , Shay.  _Exeunt_.”

A red glow from above earned a glance up, the source of which being a Galra fighter descending through the tunnel, a red-hued searchlight slowly moving back and forth. To the side, Coran was thin-lipped and sweating a little.

“Rax, we are not Galra,” Shay said determinedly. “We do not turn away those in need of help.”

Rax’s response was something between a sigh and a groan, with a muttered “Vex,” preceding them both running forward and grabbing one end of the shuttle, lifting it easily and carrying it over to the tunnel.

 _Or maybe this_ could _end okay._

* * *

It felt like vargas had gone by, when in reality Allura knew it was likely only one and a quarter. She had no way of knowing, however. She wasn’t familiar with the constellations in the Arusian sky enough to judge time’s passage that way. Molly stopped in her pacing when Koji was heard over the comm again:  _“Okay, I’m at the generator room now. Where’s the switch?”_

“It should be on the right-hand side.”

 _“Got it…oh. Oh no.”_ His voice dropped into a terrified whisper, right before the unmistakable sound of laser blasts was heard, and Allura tensed involuntarily.

At the same time, Molly asked “Koji, what's going on?”

No response came for a few too-long moments, until there was a shaky exhalation. It was followed by a rushed, panicked-sounding  _“Please tell me there’s another way to turn it off!”_

“I’m afraid there isn’t,” Allura replied. “Why?” Static was all that was heard, and she hissed out a “Quiznak.” That had been happening off and on, more than likely because the crystal currently powering the castle wasn’t anywhere  _near_  compatible with the systems.

A reddish-orange flash followed by a furious exclamation brought Allura’s attention to Molly. She had her bayard active in hand, and had fired a shot onto the barrier, to no effect. “There has to be  _something_ we can do!” she cried, before trying again.

“There isn’t,” Allura said grimly. Then an idea struck her. “Wait a tick—the mice!”

“The mice?” Molly repeated, confounded. “What can they do?”

Allura didn’t reply, instead focusing on the four dozing consciousnesses at the edge of her own awareness.  _Friends, I need your help._  They snapped to attention in response.  _The particle barrier must be shut down from inside the castle. Please hurry._  Nervous comprehension came from them, as did a confirmation, and Allura sighed. It was up to them now.  _I hope Koji is alright…_

“You can’t— _talk_  to them, can you?” The question itself was quiet, and while Molly’s expression was stoic, her posture told a different story.

Remembering what Plachu had told her earlier, Allura replied with “It’s a bit complicated, but…yes, I can.”

The Red Paladin inhaled sharply, muttering “Oh.” She’d tensed even more, if only for a tick, but it was enough to give Allura some pause.  _I suppose there’s no point in hiding it from her, especially if it’s going to result in a problem._

With that thought, Allura smiled before saying, “If it’s anything, I think Eva is a lovely name.”

The reaction was immediate: she started violently, stammering a few attempted denials, though they quickly receded into silence. Then came a faint “Please don’t tell anyone.”

“That’s your decision to make, not mine.” A relieved sigh came in response, and Allura pursed her lips slightly before saying, “Though I’ll admit that I’m curious as to  _why_  you’re going by a different name.”

The Red Paladin went rigid again, eyes briefly flicking over to Allura while seemingly about to say something, but she never did.

Instead she remained quiet, seeming uncertain in a distant sort of way, tightening her hold on her bayard when she looked back toward the barrier.

* * *

This was officially  _the worst_ day of his life so far, and that was taking every single thing that Koji could remember into account.

If Rover’s rudimentary AI hadn’t been sophisticated enough to let the drone have enough free range of decision-making to give a simple warning, he probably wouldn’t be breathing right now—and he wouldn’t be doing Stan or Shiro or  _anyone_  any good at all if he got himself killed.

The good news about that near-death incident was that the following adrenaline rush had  _somehow_  let him get up to the one clean way out of the generator room, which was through one of the castle’s multiple ventilation systems, which were just large enough for him to crawl through.

He’d also learned while doing so that the dagger form his bayard took could double as a grappling hook, by means of the blade splitting into three parts. Koji didn’t know how that worked, but he wasn’t about to stop and think about it right now. (He’d also had to spend a minute in the vent in order to get his breathing back to a normal pace.)

The easiest way to go had led out to the training deck, currently lit in the same eerie purple as the rest of the building/ship. He’d had to cut the panel open with his bayard, but it was a clean cut, so it probably wouldn’t be  _too_ hard to fix.

There was a crackling sound over the comm, before Allura’s voice was heard again.  _“Koji, there’s been a change of plans. Go back to the central energy chamber and make sure they don’t try to manually restart the turbine.”_

“W-Wait, why?”

 _“I’ll explain later,”_ she said hurriedly when the static started overlapping again.  _“There’s a maintenance entrance down the hall to the left.”_

Koji stifled a sigh.  _Well, they probably won’t be expecting that,_ he thought, trying to reassure himself. Sendak knew he was in here and had sent those sentries after him, and those sentries would probably still be looking for him…as proven when he heard a crashing sound, which preceded two of them jumping through the screen separating the training deck from the observation area.

The suddenness of it made Koji freeze in place, panic overtaking everything else.

Then Green’s presence, usually confined to a corner of his awareness, surged forward with a desperation that was hard and fast enough to snap him back to attention, leaving him feeling almost as though he’d been caught in a patch of brambles, even though he was running while tapping keys on a holoscreen that looked like it was linked to the console up on the observation deck.

When Green figuratively retreated, it was right after he’d turned around to see that one of the sentries was running into the invisible walls of the maze, while the other had been split in half when the walls had come online right on top of it. For some bizarre reason, he had to fight back the urge to laugh at it, though that was probably the stress starting to get to him.

Koji also made a mental note to take a look at the coding for the maze’s cloaking when he had a chance, before managing to make himself start walking down the hall. The Lion was hovering at the very edge uncertainly, seeming like she was trying to apologize. _For what?_

Green hesitated, before slinking back a little more, not answering. Koji decided to forget about it for now.

It was as he was carefully making his way down the ladder of the maintenance entrance that the remorseful feeling changed into apprehension, and that he could hear a voice that he didn’t recognize. Koji slowly looked over his shoulder, and promptly almost lost his grip on the ladder rungs.

One of the Galra was already at the control panel. It wasn’t Sendak, but that didn’t make it much better, since it looked like he was already starting the engine back up.

Forget breathing, at this point he’d be lucky to _not pass out_. Koji still couldn’t feel his arm (though considering the more-than-likely electrical burn he had, that might be for the better) and it was either just him or his vision was starting to get fuzzy at the edges.

He couldn’t give up now, though. He had to distract them long enough for Jordan and Coran to get back with a new crystal so they could help Stan.

A quick look at the panel to the right implied that it was linked to the turbine's power supply. As  _extremely annoying_ as that was to find  _now_ , it looked simple enough to make use of. Right now, the four bars showing the power level were at what he was assuming were normal levels.

Koji hesitated for a moment, considering his options. He could just turn it off…but overloading it would cause more damage and take longer to fix, as dangerous as that would be.  _This is going to hurt,_ he thought, raising the level of all four of them as high as they would go.

The display blinked red, coinciding with an alarm going off; the turbine flared almost blindingly seconds later, a loud crackling sound being heard, which was enough of a warning. For a few seconds, he panicked—there was no way he’d get back up to the top of the ladder in time, and even then, there was no telling how far the surge would reach.

Then Rover beeped twice from behind him, and it was with some urging from Green that he risked it and grabbed onto the drone.

The good news was that he didn’t even feel any static. The bad news was that Rover couldn’t hover  _nearly_  well enough to keep them both in the air, and they both fell very quickly down to the catwalk.

“So  _you’re_ the one causing all of this trouble,” the Galra hissed, stumbling to his feet—he’d gotten zapped pretty badly almost as soon as the turbine had overloaded, but clearly Galra were hardier than they looked.

Molly or Jordan probably would've made a snarky comeback there, but Koji wasn’t anything like either of them at all. It didn’t help that the Galra was  _at least_ six feet tall, and the sneer that crossed his face seconds later also did not help. “Scared, are you?”

“No.”

The sneer became more noticeable (Koji was shaking to the point of almost dropping his bayard, that was a  _more-than-obvious_  lie) before the Galra chuckled, saying, “Well, then let me tell you something. I’m a soldier of the Galra Empire. Nothing stops me but triumph or _death_.”

He lunged forward on the last word, a magenta blade springing from the dark object that he’d had in his hand, and it was only through hardwired self-preservation instinct that Koji hadn’t even known about before then that he’d ducked to the side in time (He had a sword.  _Why_ did it have to be a sword?!) and he ran ahead.

There wasn’t much he could do here except run, but chances were that the Galra was a lot faster than he was. That meant running might not be the best option, and it was with that thought that he turned and swung the bayard, the blade shooting out—but of course, that didn’t work either, because the next he knew he’d been tripped up by the translucent green rope, the Galra having actually  _grabbed the blade_ and wrapping it around the sword.

To top it all off, his arm chose to start actually hurting when he tried to get up, Green being both panicked and apologetic when it did. “There’s nowhere left for you to run,” the Galra taunted, stepping forward while holding the sword forward.

Then Rover (Koji took back his initial view on the drone’s AI, it actually  _was_ a smart robot!) flew out of seemingly nowhere and smacked into the side of the Galra’s head, sending him stumbling. Taking the opportunity, he tried his second plan again; this time the blade wrapped around one of the Galra’s legs, who swung his arms a bit in an attempt to keep his balance before tipping over backwards.

In the span of those few seconds, prompted by the bayard automatically returning to its inactive state, Koji remembered  _very abruptly_  how narrow the catwalk was.

* * *

At that exact moment, Jordan was wondering how the hell he ended up in this situation.

The “house” was really just a small cave off to the side in the tunnel, with various old, worn, and some rotted-looking furniture here and there, and the dishes were just hollowed-out stones.

The upside to it was that he had some food that, as much as he’d have liked to turn it down, actually looked like  _food_ , being some kind of soup made by Shay’s and Rax’s grandmother. (That had been the main reason why he’d tried it anyways. That, and he was kind of hungry at this point. It was…admittedly pretty good.)

He turned his attention away from the soup for a bit, asking “So how many of you guys are here, anyways?”

“There are thousands here on Balmera,” was the response from the siblings’ dad. “We all live and work in these mines, harvesting crystals for Zarkon. He may rule, but we still have one another.”

“I don’t suppose you’d know where we could find a battleship-class crystal, then?” Coran asked hopefully.

“Battleship-class? Those are most rare.” The Balmeran’s tone turned apologetic before he added, “Galra guard them ceaselessly when they are found. Your quest is in vain.”

“Though you could stay until Balmera gives another crystal, hidden from Galra eyes,” their mother suggested.

“We don’t have that kind of time,” Jordan said, stress leaking into his tone. “Our team’s—one of my teammates is hurt really bad, and we need that crystal to help him.”

“There is one,” Shay started tentatively. “Found only one movement ago. It is almost excavated, so perhaps you could—”

“Quiet!” Rax snapped. “Even if they could steal the crystal from the Galra, battle patrols wait to take down their ship. These ones have no chance of getting out of here alive, with crystal or without, and our family will be torn asunder if they are found here with us!”

That was the last straw. Jordan stood up, saying “Oh, I guess you know  _for sure_ that we’d get caught, huh?”

Coran intervened then, quickly saying “Okay, okay!” while looking between Jordan and Rax, who was glaring back at him. “Jordan, why don’t you, uh, go fix the pod while I do some reconnaissance?”

Jordan stuttered a bit, startled. “B-But I—I don’t know how to—”

He stopped when Coran quirked one eyebrow a bit, a silent message in the expression. _Is this really the time for arguing?_

It wasn’t.

Exhaling sharply, Jordan replied with a hissed “Fine,” before turning on his heel, stalking out.  _Who does that guy think he is, anyways?_  he thought angrily, pausing to kick a loose stone. He stopped himself at the last second, remembering something: they were on a living planet-thing that might actually feel that.

There wasn’t any lighting where the shuttle was, so he had to use the gauntlet’s flashlight to find the panel. Everything inside it  _looked_ okay, at least to Jordan, though the few orange crystals seemed out-of-place among all the blue…

 _Oh wait._ They probably weren’t supposed to be crooked like that. They went back into place easily, turning cyan when they did.

“Well, that wasn’t too hard,” he muttered to himself, seeing the screens inside flicker back on. A quiet scraping sound caused him to tense before looking to the side, and he almost jumped when he saw Shay standing a few feet away. “You’re a lot quieter than you look,” he said after a few moments, voice terse—she wasn’t the one he was angry with, but he had to force his voice to stay level.

“It comes with practice.”

There was a pause, before she added, “May I ask something?”

He hesitated, wondering what it might be, before conceding. “Uh, sure.”

“What is the sky like?”

Jordan froze. Of all the possible questions, he hadn’t expected  _that_  to be it. “The—the sky?” he repeated, not able to keep the disbelief out of his voice that time. “You mean you haven’t ever seen it?”

“No. Sometimes, when the guard patrols in this area are lax, I climb as high as I dare, but then it’s always too dark to see anything.”

Jordan bit his lip. _Okay, now I’m starting to feel bad about this._ “Well, uh…I didn’t really get a good look at what the sky here is like,” he started awkwardly, scratching the back of his head a bit. “But the sky on Earth is blue, like—like the screens here…” She looked lost, so he added, “Earth’s where I come from.”

Shay sighed a bit. “How lucky you are, to be able to fly in this machine far from here.”

“W-Well…” What was he supposed to say to that? _Guess I’ll have to wing it,_ he decided, scratching the back of his neck a bit. Maybe he could get a question or two of his own answered while he was at it. “Well, things are gonna be changing soon. Y’know what Voltron is, by any chance?”

She regarded him dubiously in response. “It’s a children’s tale. Why?”

Jordan faulted a bit. “Uh. Well, it’s real, and I’m—I’m one of the p-pilots for it.” (There, he just said it out loud. There was no denying it now.)

Shay blinked, the disbelief changing into curiosity, but before she could say anything, Coran jogged out of the tunnel. “I think we might just be in luck,” he said cheerily. “The crystal’s lightly guarded at the moment.”

Rax was close behind him, and Jordan clenched one fist a bit without thinking about it. “Is your ship repaired that you may depart our presence?” the Balmeran asked icily.

“We’re not going without that crystal,” Jordan replied in the same tone. To Coran, he added, “You have a plan to get it, right?”

“Yes, actually. Follow me!”

A few twists and turns led to a more-open tunnel, and Jordan stopped abruptly when Coran did at one corner. The Altean silently pointed to a sentry standing guard by another, smaller tunnel. Jordan smirked a bit in response—now for the fun stuff—and the robot was dispatched with one quick shot from his bayard.

“Right, now I’ll put this on…” Coran pried the helmet off of the robot before putting it over his own head. “And we’ll need to find a cloak or something…”

There were only two more robots beyond the gap, seemingly not having noticed the commotion, and they were down almost as quickly as the first one. “Though I suppose that works too.” Coran side-eyed him. “You didn’t hit the Balmera at all, did you?”

“Hey, I’m one of the best shots the Garrison has,” Jordan retorted before looking at the thing they’d come for instead. It was pretty big, even when half-buried. “So how’re we gonna…what are you _doing_? I thought we had to hurry!”

“I can’t just pry this out of here!” was the sharp response from Coran. “The Balmera is a living creature. You have to communicate with it—let your life forces connect.” As he spoke, the crystal shimmered a faint blue under his hands. “This is how we did it back then.”

 _Weird alien magic thing. Got it._  The crystal’s glow brightened a bit for a few seconds before dimming again. Then the ground shook a bit under Jordan’s feet, and he quickly steadied himself against the wall before he fell over. After that, the dirt around the crystal all fell away, and it started tipping over.

Coran quickly reached to stop it, and Jordan stepped forward to help, but stopped short when he heard a distinct cracking sound, simultaneous with a strangled sound from the Altean. “Uh…are you okay?”

“I think I’m broken,” was the hoarse response.

“Ugh, hang on a…” Jordan trailed off at hearing heavy footsteps behind then, and looked over his shoulder. Apparently  _that_ commotion was heard…by several other sentries.  _Shit._

Coran pushed himself up onto his feet, though he was stanced awkwardly. “O-Okay guys, I—I hate to do this,” he got out, voice wavering. “Blasters and badges now—c’mon give—give them up.” His voice cracked at the end, and he toppled over.

Jordan considered the options he had quickly. He could try to blast them all with his bayard, but then he’d  _definitely_ hit the Balmera, with how two of the sentries were ducked behind stalagmites. And with Coran down like that, even with the gauntlet’s shield…this was a no-win situation, no matter how he looked at it.

He hissed out a choice word before slowly putting his hands up.

* * *

“I, ah, guess I got a little overzealous there,” Coran said some time later, after managing to stand up. Jordan didn’t reply, still scowling at the ground from where he was leaning back against the wall. Coran’s response to the silence was to change tactics: “Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll find a way out of this!”

“How?” Jordan asked flatly.

“Well…uh…”

“Thought so.”

Coran sighed after a bit, admitting “Okay, so we’re in a bit of a bind here.”

“A  _bit_?” Jordan repeated, exasperated. “One of my teammates was _practically_ _dying_ when we left Arus, and now we’re  _stuck here_!” He was aware of the fact that he was getting steadily louder, but he was well beyond the point of caring. “I don’t know about you, but I’d call that a—!”

“Shh!”

Startled, he looked at Coran, who was staring intently at one of the passages to the side. Jordan could hear footsteps approaching now, and they were too light to be the sentry that made its rounds every other minute…and that was because it was Shay, holding the disembodied arm of the aforementioned sentry.

“Shay, wha’…not that I’m complaining or anything, but what’re you doing here?” he asked incredulously. Instead of answering the question out loud, she held the robot-arm up to the panel by the forcefield-door, which dissipated almost immediately.

“Make haste to your ship,” she said. “The crystal is prepared for departure.”

“How did you get it there?” Coran asked, puzzled.

“I was assigned to take it to the upper levels, but instead I took it down,” she replied quietly, sounding almost as though she was trying to convince herself that she’d done it to begin with. “Soon, they will discover my ruse. Time is short.”

“Uh—thanks for doing this, but—whyare you doing this?” Jordan asked once his brain processed what she meant by that. She helped them, even though she’d get into some _huge_ trouble if she was found out? _Why_?

She looked at him. “Because your arrival here has given me hope. My wish is for Balmera to be free—perhaps your Voltron can make that so, if the tale is to be believed.” He blinked owlishly at the response, not having expected that answer at all whatsoever.

The narrow tunnels opened up after a minute of them running, but the lack of sentries in itself should’ve been a warning. Shay stopped abruptly, eyes widening in shock. “No…Rax, why?”

Her brother was there waiting, with a whole row of sentries behind him, all armed. “These two bring only trouble to our family,” was his harsh response. “It was the only way to protect you.”

 _Protect?!_  Bayard in hand, Jordan took a step forward, only for Shay to put an arm in front of him. “No,” she said again, tone equally fierce. “The Balmera will save us.” She crouched, placing her other hand onto the ground, which seemed to glow faintly just like the crystal had with Coran earlier, ignoring Rax’s protest.

The noise that followed sounded almost like a whale, if a whale was planet-sized and made of rock—the Balmera _really_ _was alive_ , then.

The whole tunnel system shook, stones falling onto more than a few of the sentries. It was the perfect diversion, and Jordan intended to make use of it.

What happened earlier aside, Coran seemed to have recovered from his back giving out with how fast he cleared the distance to the shuttle. Jordan was about to vault himself into the cockpit along with him when he heard a yelp from behind, and he turned to see Shay tied up now with violet-hued wire-like ropes.

“Jordan, we have to go now!” Coran shouted, nearly drowning out Shay’s words that were also along those lines.

 _Fuck today,_ he thought, before shouting “We’ll come back here!” before the ship’s cockpit sealed itself up after he was in the copilot seat.

“That we will,” Coran agreed solemnly as the shuttle rocketed forward and upwards. His tone wavered when he added, “But we might be back here sooner than we want if we can’t shake those fighters!”

“Who says we have to shake ‘em?” If there was any time to pull a Molly, it was now—Jordan pointed at the one button that was more off to the side than the others, added by the team mechanics.

“Uh, that might turn us into a giant fireball!”

“What else can we do?!”

Coran’s eyes darted between the button, the screen showing all the fighters behind them, and the approaching yellow sky of the Balmera, before gulping audibly. “Fire in the hole!” he shouted, which Jordan took as the cue to hit the button.

 _Hyperdrive prototype_ indeed: the shuttle shot forward fast enough to press Jordan back into the seat, just narrowly missing a few metal bridges spanning the mine shaft before exploding into open air—not literally, but by the sound of it a few of the Galra fighters hadn’t been as lucky.

“I can’t believe that actually worked,” Coran said almost breathlessly as they were leaving the atmosphere. “I’ll have to see if I can’t get Koji to tell me more about that add-on of his and Stan’s when we get back.”

“Yeah,” Jordan mumbled, not really listening.  _Stan, you better still be breathing when we get back…_

* * *

“Haxus, come in!” Sendak repeated angrily for what must have been the fifteenth time at the least, shouting by now. Shiro had to bite his tongue to keep himself from saying  _He probably isn’t going to_.

Sendak didn’t seem to realize he was starting to come around again, and he wanted it to stay that way, at least for now.

Then Sendak paused, looking over his shoulder. Whatever he saw was enough to make him run out after whatever it was, and it was soon followed by a set of lighter footsteps. Shiro looked up, blinking a few times in an attempt to clear his vision, but whoever it was promptly was pulled away suddenly, a startled/pained yelp clarifying who it was.

“If you thought that hologram trick would work on me,” Sendak hissed slowly. “You are  _gravely_ mistaken.” A glance up had Shiro started debating on if the heat given off by his prosthetic while active could weaken the restraint on his hands enough for him to break it—the way that Koji was scrabbling at Sendak’s grip was a clear indicator that hold was tight enough to keep him from breathing—but a blur of movement at the bridge’s entrance caught Shiro’s attention.

Allura looked as fierce as she had earlier, but the speed at which shock was replaced with cold fury in regard to Molly was something in itself.

“Stand back,” Sendak warned. “Or the Green Paladin—”

He was interrupted by a loud banging sound from next to Shiro, and staggered with a startled grunt immediately after. There was a faint mutter of “So that’s how that works,” from Stan, the yellow bayard returning to its inactive state seconds later.

The force of the shot was enough for Sendak to drop Koji, who immediately scrambled away, coughing a bit, and Allura wasted no time in lunging at Sendak.

The commander reacted by swinging his augmented prosthetic around to knock her aside, but in doing so, he left his back wide-open—a plasmatic arrow to just the right spot cut through the plasma connecting his prosthetic to its port, detaching it.

Shiro felt rather than heard his hand-restraints being cut, and wasted no time in entering the fray himself, managing to block an attack that had been meant for Molly, who’d frozen in place when the furious Galra had turned his attention fully onto her.

It was one of the few times Shiro was thankful that all sensations from his own prosthetic were dulled.

“Now!” Allura exclaimed from the console—seeing the circular lines by the center of the room light up was enough of a hint for Shiro to aim a kick at the Galra’s chest, hard enough to make him stumble back over the line, and no sooner was he over it did a particle barrier shimmer into existence. Sendak shouted something, but whatever it was cut off when Allura pressed a key on the console, blocking the sound.

Shiro sighed. _It’s over._

“Coran and Jordan should be back soon with a new crystal,” Allura reassured, glancing at a monitor. “In the meantime—Shiro, Molly, I’ll need you both to help me disconnect that… _thing_  from the castle.”

“What about him?” Molly pointed at Sendak, who had settled for glowering at them when he’d realized they couldn’t hear him. Her voice wavered slightly when she spoke.

Allura tapped another key in response, and the inside of the barrier was promptly flooded with an opaque mist. When it cleared, Sendak had dropped to the floor. Molly looked alarmed, but before she could say anything, Allura clarified, “He’s only sleeping. For a few vargas, at the least.”

To the side, Koji was attempting to help Stan get up, but by the look of it, the mechanic had passed out again. Allura looked at them pensively, before saying, “On second thought, Molly—”

“I-I got it.” She stumbled a bit in getting over to help Koji, and they made their way to the doorway shortly after, Koji tripping a bit himself to keep up with her.

The princess scowled one last time at Sendak before starting to pull cables off of the Galra crystal. Shiro pulled two off himself, including the last one. The moment it disconnected, the room went dark. “Have you heard anything from Coran or Jordan?” he asked.

“Not yet, no. I’ll admit, I didn’t think we’d be making use of the castle’s holding deck so quickly…”

Shiro looked at her, slightly alarmed. “We’re keeping Sendak here?”

“Well, we can’t set him free.”

That occurred to him moments before she said it, and he sighed. “You’re right, you’re right…I don’t know how the others are going to take that, though.”

She made a noncommittal sound in response, before pausing. Then she smiled. “Coran just contacted me—they’re within sight of Arus.”

Shiro looked sideways at her. “We’re not leaving tomorrow, are we.”

“No.” Her shoulders slumped a little. “We need to leave Arus as soon as we can, but Coran and I will have to check all of the castle’s systems for any damage dealt by that Galra crystal, and I’d prefer if we waited until Stan is fully recovered.” Allura paused before adding, “And I think it would do the others some good to have tomorrow off.”

* * *

“He should be fine after a quintant in there.”

“Should be?” Molly repeated, tense.

“Give or take a varga,” Coran clarified, nodding. “Advanced as the pods are, they aren’t always precise in terms of timing. It varies between the individual, and the severity of the injury plays a big part in it.” He nodded at the one active device, which had a screen showing vitals displayed on the glass. “Rest assured, everything’s fine.”

Installing the new crystal had taken a bit more work than taking out the Galra crystal had, but when it was all said and done with, the castle was once again lit in cyan. The relief that had flooded over from Black when that occurred had nearly overtaken Shiro’s own at seeing that.

 “I just wanna know how they even got that bomb in here in the first place,” Jordan grumbled, brow furrowed a bit. “How come none of us saw it come in?”

“I’d like to know that as well,” Allura agreed, bringing up a screen showing the bridge. The symbols in one of the upper corners, while in Altean, suggested that it was a security feed.

For a minute, nothing happened, until Stan went into the room, soon followed by Coran. Then, as the video showed them both leaving, Jordan leaned forward a bit, pointing. “Right there,” he said, and Shiro looked closer as well.

On the feed, Stan froze, turning around to look at the Galra drone before running to shove Coran down, right as a bloom of orange overtook the feed, followed by it going to static.

“Oh,” was the low mutter from Molly, and Shiro quickly looked to the side. Koji was staring at the screen almost blankly, Rover chirping almost nervously behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun, right?!  
> Special thanks to Tumblr user humanstomachines for helping me out with parts of this.


	8. Arc I: Race's End - Wayward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Sendak's siege on the castle leaves the team feeling more than a little disoriented, which isn't lost on Shiro. In them helping the Arusians repair their village, however, they make a surprising discovery which raises a few questions for everyone.

Eva didn’t remember falling asleep. She _did_ remember going back to the bridge and asking Shiro if there were any repairs she could help out with, but he’d insisted on her getting some sleep. She remembered agreeing…and then she was waking up just now.

She sighed a bit to herself, putting a hand up to her forehead—everything must have caught up to her right then. Whether or not she’d made it to her room before blacking out was a matter of debate that she deemed not really worth thinking about right now.

Stan had been hurt really bad, but he’d be okay after a day or so, because Coran and Jordan had gotten a crystal from a Balmera in time.

At least, he _should_ be okay.

The Arusians’ village had almost completely burnt down, no thanks to that diversion of Sendak’s, which both she and Allura had fallen for—and if Eva hadn’t felt useless then, she didn’t know when else she had.

Allura knew what her real name was. Part of Eva wanted to panic about that, but she didn’t. If anything, it felt more like she _couldn’t_ panic about it. All she could really get when thinking about that was numbness.

A questioning feeling came over from Red, to which she replied with a mumbled “I’m fine.”

Was she really? Those few seconds when Sendak had been about to attack her were on a whole new level of scary, and she dimly recalled having woken up in a cold sweat at one point during the night, now that she was thinking more about it.

The hall was vacant when she looked, though the dining hall wasn’t when she got down there. Jordan glanced up at her momentarily from where he’d been poking at an empty plate with a spork, waving halfheartedly. Eva returned the gesture, before asking “Where’s everyone else?”

Jordan looked back at the plate. “Last I knew, Shiro was helping Coran move some stuff out of the bridge,” he replied. “Allura’s restarting everything that has a computer attached to it, and I dunno where Koji is. I haven’t seen him yet.”

That was the other thing bothering her. Koji had said he was fine when she’d asked (she remembered that, too) but he sure hadn’t _looked_ okay. “Think we should go look for him?”

Jordan shrugged in response, standing up. “Where’re we gonna start?”

“Um…the hangar?”

The hangar was vacant; while Eva remembered leaving her rocket-seat outside, it was propped against the _Arrow_ now. _I guess someone brought it in._

“Maybe we should split up,” Jordan suggested. “This place is huge—it’d take forever for us to check everywhere.”

“Good idea,” she agreed. The castle looked big enough from the outside, which meant that the inside was even bigger…and she’d been waiting for a good time to explore to come up, anyways. (She was just wishing the situation was a little better.) “You go left, I’ll go right.”

The right-side hall was just a straight walk with no branching passages, though at one point Eva noticed that the ceiling started arching a bit, and the hall was getting wider; it ended with a single, large doorway. _I must be at one of the Lion hangars._ It wasn’t Red’s, though; she could tell that much, even without seeing the color highlighting. Curiosity winning over, she opened the door.

It was the Yellow Lion’s hangar—the Lion itself was standing in the middle of the open area, and the fact that it was _standing_ made her stop for a few seconds when she was halfway across the room.

Whenever she’d gone to Red’s hangar, Red had always been sitting. Same with when they first found him on Alwas.

Eva bit her lip slightly when one detail of the previous night came back to her: while she and Allura had been locked out, they’d occasionally heard muffled crashing sounds from one of the towers, which Allura had clarified as having been Yellow trying to break out of his hangar.

“I guess you’re worried too,” she said aloud. The Lion didn’t budge, but Eva was _pretty sure_ that his attention was on her now.

Coran had said that Stan would be okay, but that was also what they had first heard about Rick after his accident.

There was a faint prickle of curiosity at the edge of her awareness now, and it wasn’t from Red. It felt _like_ Red, in that it felt warm in a sense, but it wasn’t fire-warm; more like sand-in-sun-warm.

 _Is that Yellow?_ Red was in the background, seeming almost surprised, but he pushed off an affirmative when that thought ran through her head.

Eva hadn’t thought that possible before now, but in retrospect…it did kind of make sense. It also made it worth asking something. “Has Koji come through here at all?”

Yellow’s response was a little difficult to make out—his presence was a lot fainter than Red’s, there being something like a thick haze the two of them, but it was still clear enough for Eva to make out as a negative, coupled with a suggestion. “Green’s hangar?” she mused, before shrugging. _It’s_ _worth a shot._

She remembered to say thanks and got a bemused rumble in response—and Red practically ambushed her the moment she’d stepped into the hall on the other side of the hangar, pride radiating off of him.

“What?” she asked, confused. “All I did was ask a question.”

Red was definitely amused about something, but he wouldn’t clarify.

* * *

“It’s not as bad as it could’ve been,” Coran was saying, eyes fixed on one of the many holoscreens he had up on the bridge. “In fact, it almost looks like they repaired a few things for us—nonessential to flight, but…well, it’ll make daily activities a bit easier.” Shiro gave a noncommittal sound in response; he honestly had mixed feelings on that being an end-result of last night.

Coran dismissed the screen, stretching. “Well, I might as well reboot the main turbine’s systems next. It had quite the gauntlet-run, from what I heard.” He glanced sideways at Shiro before adding, “You know, I think Koji was the first one up out of you four this morning.”

“Was he?” Shiro asked. He was equally impressed and concerned by that—impressed because Shiro had kept the Garrison-enforced wakeup time of five in the morning (he wasn’t sure what that equated to exactly in Arusian time, though. Or Altean time, for that matter.)

“Last I knew, he was in the Green Lion’s hangar,” Coran went on. “Said he had an idea for a project. He wouldn’t elaborate on it, though.”

“Maybe I should go check on him,” Shiro mused, starting toward the doorway. Koji had made himself scarce immediately after they’d learned about the bomb-drone, which was why Shiro was concerned. Koji might not have actually been the first one awake, if he’d never gone to sleep to begin with.

Shiro found his way to the Green Lion’s hangar within a few minutes, having gone on the guess that it would be in the upper-left direction of Black’s hangar. A small desk had been shoved up against one of the not-quite corners of the room, which Koji was standing by while doing something with his tablet. If the way he was scowling at it was any indicator, he wasn’t having too much success with whatever it was.

He turned his attention toward the Green Lion at one point, noticing Shiro at the same time. Despite the distance, Shiro did not miss the momentary sharp wince that crossed the technician’s face when he started a bit. “Are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah,” Koji replied nonchalantly. At least, as nonchalant as someone trying to keep their left arm out of full view could be. “Did Coran need any help with the computer systems?”

“No. He says that the damage from Sendak’s crystal isn’t as bad as he thought it would be.”

No response came, save for Koji having gone pensive at the mention of the Galra commander for a few seconds. The Green Lion was oddly noticeable just beyond Black’s presence, paying intent attention to the exchange of words.

Koji looked back at the device on the desk before saying, “I’m, uh, kind of trying to figure something out right now, so—”

“Could I see your other arm for a second?”

Koji flinched in response, stammering “N-Nothing’s wrong! I—I just slept on it funny, that’s all…”

“I never said anything was wrong,” Shiro said, keeping his voice even.

“I…oh.” The technician’s face flushed, and he mumbled something under his breath before carefully pulling the sleeve back. If how he grimaced right after was any indicator, he hadn’t looked at it himself until right now.

Threadlike lines started at Koji’s wrist, branching out in a weblike pattern until they faded out toward his elbow, being reddish-purple in color and having blistered in a few places already. Shiro was no expert on electrical burns, but it looked painful. “We better get that looked at.”

They’d reached the door when it opened, and Molly stopped stiff at seeing them, looking a little awkward now. “Oh, Shiro. I was just looking for…” She trailed off, eyes widening. “Koji, what—how did _that_ happen?”

“Uh…” He looked vaguely uncomfortable in response, so Shiro intervened.

“Is Jordan awake?”

“Huh? Well, yeah, but I’m not sure where he is right now, though.” Molly looked a little put-off at the sudden subject-change, but didn’t ask, instead tailing after them to the infirmary.

Once there, the three of them paused, and Molly looked almost surprised at seeing both Jordan and Allura there. Shiro only caught the end of what the princess was saying, but it sounded like she was talking about the tech the cryopods used in terms of medical purposes.

The cadet seemed like he was paying close attention, at least until he saw the three of them there. For a few seconds he looked like a deer caught in headlights, whereas Allura’s attention was on the Green Lion’s pilot.

Her wearily-amused expression was replaced by one of understanding, and she slid a panel aside, removing a canister and a roll of bandages from the cupboard-like space.

“I’m going to assume that was the consequence of you getting the turbine to shut down the first time,” she said knowingly, while putting a portion of the canister’s gray-blue contents over the blisters, to which there was a responding affirmative mumble. Jordan had looked alarmed at noticing the injury, but didn’t say anything.

“Have you heard from the Arusians at all today?” Shiro asked.

“Not yet, no,” she replied, not pausing in getting the bandages set. Koji was wincing a little, but wasn’t saying anything, keeping his focus somewhere between what the princess was doing and the floor. The two kids were both quiet, but Shiro could see that their focus had wandered to the one active pod in the room.

Stan certainly looked better than he had the night before, and while Shiro couldn’t make out any details on the monitor displaying on the glass, the visuals had good implications.

“Maybe we should go see if they need help with the village repairs,” Shiro suggested, and that seemed to shake all three of them out of it. There was a flicker of something akin to guilt on Molly’s face, but only for a moment—she and Allura had been the ones to go out to try to help the natives the night before. If he had to guess, she felt partially responsible for it.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Jordan agreed, whereas Koji shrugged a little.

* * *

While none of them aside from Shiro bothered getting their flight-suits, Koji was the only one with a valid excuse. Jordan was a little surprised that no one had noticed that electrical burn last night. The fact that Koji hadn’t told anyone about it then…well, Jordan was a little worried about that.

 _Maybe he just forgot,_ he thought, glancing sideways at him once they’d come out of their respective Lions.

(Jordan wasn’t even fooling himself there. Something like that had to have been hurting _a lot_.)

A small group of Arusians had broken off from the bustle in the village to gather around that area, the chief being in front. “Lion Warriors, you honor us with your presence,” he greeted jovially, before asking in a more serious tone, “Has your enemy been vanquished?”

“In a way, yes,” Shiro replied. “We’ll be leaving Arus as soon as one of our friends has recovered. In the meantime, we’re here to help with anything we can.”

“Your offer is greatly appreciated,” was the sincere-sounding response, and the chief looked back at the village forlornly. “There is much to be done.”

He wasn’t kidding in saying that, either. If the Arusians weren’t putting up frames for new houses, they were heading off with empty bowls and coming back with them filled with clay from the nearby lakebed for the walls, or with wood from the forest.

More often than not, over the course of the day, Jordan would find himself having to hold up the frames for building rooftops, which tended to go a foot or two above his eye-level. Lunch consisted of some roasted fish that didn’t taste half bad—but then again, after a few days’ worth of the rations, Jordan was happy with anything that had a decent flavor.

At one point one of the frameworks proved to be less stable than what was needed, and it would’ve fallen apart if Molly hadn’t stepped in at the last second. Jordan sighed a bit, before saying a quick “Thanks.”

“It was nothing,” she replied, looking around. “You know what? This isn’t taking as long as I thought it was going to.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, looking around as well. If he had to guess, they’d gotten at least half the village covered already. Jordan had first suspected that it’d take a few days, but at this rate it’d all be done by sundown.

“Hey, Jordan? What were you and Allura talking about earlier?”

“Huh? Oh, well,” he stuttered a bit, face flushing at remembering that the others had seen that. “I was just—kinda wondering how the, uh, cryopods worked with the medical stuff since…” Jordan trailed off then, biting his lip, before finishing, “Well, we’re all probably gonna get a turn in one at some point.”

It was an ugly thought to consider, but last night had been an abrupt, metaphorical slap to the face. They were part of an ongoing war now. Getting hurt was a real risk.

(They’d both been really lucky during the Great Race, now that he thought about it. The race with the Crog could’ve _easily_ gone a lot worse.)

Molly stared at him for a few seconds, before looking blankly at the framework. Then, tightening the grip she had on the wood, she asked, “You think Stan’s gonna be alright?”

“Coran said he’d be,” Jordan replied, looking sideways at her. She looked weirdly distant again, but something else occurred to him before he could ask if anything was wrong; it was a sudden-enough thought that it pushed everything else out of mind. “Hey, Molly?” he started, voice quieting a little. “We—we never really talked to Stan or Koji too much on Alwas, did we.”

Her attention snapped back to him, then over her shoulder toward where the other two were. “I guess not,” she mumbled. “Think we should…try talking to Koji later?”

“Yeah,” he agreed, before carefully backing away from the framework. It stayed in place, even after Molly did the same, and the Arusian that had been working on it from inside affirmed that it would stick this time.

He opted for following Molly to the lakeside this time. The path through the forest had multiple twists and turns, though the trail itself was visible by the undergrowth thinning out. The lake was surrounded by a stretch of marshland, with some high gray-stone hills along one edge. It took a few seconds of him staring at the crumbling rocks for Jordan to realize that he recognized them.

Blue had left a crater just over the hills the day before.

It was alarmingly easy to forget that the Lions were gigantic ships that more than likely weighed more than a few tons each, and could do some pretty heavy damage just by hitting _near_ something.

Jordan wasn’t sure he wanted to think about what could’ve happened if Blue had flown over those hills instead of stopping at them, and Blue herself shuddered a little in the back of his head at that thought.

Molly had stopped from where she was about to pick up one of the few empty dishes lying by the waterside, having looked toward the hills as well. “Jordan?” she started, voice sounding like something between surprise and alarm. “You—you see that too, right?”

“See what?” He looked toward where the hills met the water, squinting a bit. All he could see were jagged-looking rock-faces, apart from one part that looked more smoothed-out and had a crumbled opening…which actually didn’t look very natural, now that he was looking at it.

Molly was off running toward it two seconds later, saying “C’mon, let’s go check it out!”

“Wha’—Molly, wait! You remember what happened to the _last_ thing you wanted to check out, right?”

“Yeah, well, that one wasn’t on dry land. This one _is_!”

Jordan huffed a little—this was officially a lost cause. But that bit of rock looked _suspiciously_ like that ruin on Alwas, and…okay, _maybe_ he was a little curious about this too.

* * *

The inside of the ruin was in surprisingly good shape, which led Eva to think that it was just buried under the rocks and wasn’t in the lake at all. There was a narrow stairway leading down, curving along the wall, and chunks of deteriorated stone dotted the floor here and there. Through what light was filtering in, she could see that the walls were _almost_ entirely blank, with the one exception being a part where she could make out darker lines.

From what little she could see of it with the lighting that was reaching that wall, it consisted of a large circle and had a few smaller circles in it. Jordan was squinting at it from a little ways behind her, though he paused and turned when Shiro was heard calling for them. “We’re in here!” Eva called back.

Shortly after, the light filtering in was blocked by the other two. “What’re you both doing in here?” Shiro asked, puzzled.

“Come look at this,” she said instead. He hesitated before edging down the stairway, Koji behind him. Shiro was the only one with his flight-suit on, which meant he had a flashlight; he looked bemused before turning it on when she asked.

For what felt like a few minutes, the four of them stared at the wall carving. “Is it just me, or do those look like star-racers?” Jordan asked finally.

“I doubt that,” Koji replied, though he sounded unsure.

Eva had been right about the picture consisting of a few circles, and the various small shapes near the center really did look like star-racers. “There’s no way the Arusians built this,” Shiro noted, looking up toward the top of it. Then he hissed in a breath, putting a hand to his forehead.

“Shiro? What…?” Her question trailed off when she also looked up. _Is that what I think it is?_

“Whoa,” Jordan exclaimed quietly, eyes widening. “That’s freaky.”

“That…doesn’t make any sense,” Koji said now, staring at it. “Arus is—it’s _trillions_ of lightyears away from…” He trailed off, shaking his head.

“What does that symbol mean?” Shiro asked, not looking away from it.

“I think that’s the Avatar’s symbol,” Eva replied, incredulous. It was as faded as everything else, and had a few notable design differences, but it was still easily recognizable. “And—and there was something just like this on Alwas. Jordan and I only got to see the outside of it, but it looked like this building.”

It also brought something else to mind: if the Arusians hadn’t built this, then the Scrubs probably hadn’t been the one to build the one that had been on Alwas.

_But if they hadn’t, who did?_

Red was paying close attention to it all, though when Eva silently asked if he knew anything about it, he’d hesitated before responding with a confused sort of intrigue.

“Maybe Allura or Coran will know something,” Shiro said finally, turning away from the carving. “We should all get back to work.”

He had a point in saying that—Eva still felt guilty for what happened to the village, even though she knew that she really shouldn’t—but it still took a bit of effort to make herself follow the others out, partially because she’d paused momentarily at the mention of Allura.

They hadn’t talked at all directly yet today, but it was only a matter of time. Red sent some reassurance as they started back up the trail toward the village, but there was an underlying pointedness in it.

Eva knew what he was getting at with it, but this time she didn’t have a comeback.

When Allura had asked why Eva was using a fake name, she’d nearly replied with _Because of my dad_ , but remembered at the last second that her dad wasn’t here.

She had no idea where he was.

Eva _didn’t_ have a reason to keep her identity secret, not right now—but how would the others react?

“Molly?”

Eva started at Shiro calling her, and she could practically _feel_ the concern radiating from the Black Lion’s pilot. She hadn’t noticed they’d made it back to the village already. “It’s nothing,” she dismissed, forcing a smile. “I was just—thinking about something.”

“About the other two?” he guessed.

“Uh…” _No, but it’s kind of related?_

It was Jordan’s turn to give her a worried look. “You sure you’re okay? You were really spacing out there.”

“I’m fine,” she repeated, temper flaring a little. At the same time, she was trying to think of a way to change the subject. One hit her: “What happened on the Balmera, anyways?” To the side, she saw Shiro’s eyes narrow a bit in a manner that had Eva thinking that he knew she’d just changed the subject on purpose.

“Huh?” Jordan looked alarmed for a few seconds, and then a little awkward. “Well, Coran and I met some Balmerans…”

“Really? What were they like?”

He looked off to the side a bit, scratching at the back of his head. “Shay was alright. We—we probably wouldn’t have made it out of there if she hadn’t helped us out, since there were Galra everywhere.”

…that, coming from _Jordan_ , especially when talking about an _alien_ , momentarily threw Eva for a loop. He sounded almost _grateful_.

“You know Jordan,” she started with a smirk, seeing an opportunity that was both teasing and further diverting the subject. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it sounds like you made a friend.”

Eva counted to three before he reacted. “It—it’s not like that!” he shouted, earning alarmed glances from some nearby Arusians. “S-She just helped us out! And…” His voice faltered along with his expression. “And she got into a lot of trouble for that, too.

“It would’ve been fine if her _brother_ hadn’t ratted us out,” Jordan growled through grit teeth. “That guy just rubbed me the wrong way in the first place, but after _that_?”

“Sounds like you had a rough time,” Shiro said sympathetically.

“Yeah…” There was a momentary pause before Jordan looked somewhat distressed. “We’re—we’ve gotta go back there.”

The words were almost too quiet for Eva to hear, but the way her partner said them solidified her agreement by itself. Then one little part of her did a head-count, and she noticed that there were only three humans in this part of the village at the moment. “Hey, where’d Koji go?”

The other two looked around. “Considering that the Green Lion’s gone, probably back at the castle,” Shiro pointed out. Sure enough, when Eva looked, there was a space to Black’s left that had previously been occupied by the other smaller Lion.

“Geez, you’d think we would’ve heard him going,” Jordan muttered, looking a little impressed.

Shiro looked out toward the castle for a few long moments, and then at the now-orange sky, before saying “Why don’t you both head on back too.”

“What about you?” Eva asked.

“It doesn’t look like there’s much left in terms of reconstruction,” he replied, smiling a little. “You both did a lot of work today—you’ve earned it.”

“Alright,” Jordan said, shrugging a little before turning to start toward the Blue Lion. Eva was quick to follow him, and he glanced sideways at her before quietly adding, “I think I know where Koji might be right now.”

* * *

Shiro watched the Red and Blue Lions until they’d gone inside their respective hangars before turning to scan the village. In truth, the remaining repairs likely didn’t need any more outside help—there were only two houses left.

He hadn’t realized that the Arusian king had approached him until the smaller alien had cleared his throat. “Your help was greatly appreciated, Lion Warrior,” he said respectfully. “We owe you our gratitude.”

“It was only common courtesy,” Shiro replied. “We’re the ones that brought the Galra here. It only made sense that we helped repair the damage.”

The Arusian grunted a bit in response. “The Li—princess told us of your war. You are not at fault for your enemy’s actions.”

He had a point in saying that, and Shiro stifled a sigh. Black had made a point in focusing his attention on the second half of the sentence to further cement the message.

She had been oddly attentive when the four of them had been studying the carving on the wall in the old ruin by the lake, but when he’d thrown a questioning feeling at her, she’d just seemed surprised, and hadn’t clarified on anything else…and that brought something else to mind. “Are your people the only ones on Arus?”

The king looked up at him, perplexed, before replying, “There may be others, beyond the furthest mountains, but we’ve never seen any signs to prove it. Why do you ask?”

“My teammates and I found something by the lake. An old stone building, with an illustration of some sort on the wall.”

An illustration that depicted what might be something that the Arusians were nowhere _near_ accomplishing, as well as the symbol of an entity that reigned in a galaxy an unfathomable distance away. Shiro had vaguely recognized the symbol, but he didn’t know from where.

To the side, the king looked thoughtful. “I will have to see what you speak of for myself,” he murmured, and before heading off in the direction of the forest path, he gave the parting words of “It is good that you allow the younger ones to mark their own paths, but it would be wise to offer guidance to them as well.”

And if that wasn’t another very good point, Shiro wasn’t sure what was. He had an idea on what the conditions had been like on the Balmera thanks to Coran, but he now had a feeling that there was more to it, if what Jordan had said was any indicator.

Molly was constantly dodging around any questions having to do with her life before meeting the rest of them, and it was gradually becoming more clear that she was hiding something, but he didn’t know what.

As for Koji…Shiro had a few guesses on why the technician seemed detached from everything throughout the day, one of the most prominent being that he hadn’t seen Rover once today. 

The other was that Shiro distinctively recalled there having been  _two_ Galra in the castle—one being Sendak, and the other being named Haxus.

He didn’t know what had become of Haxus for sure, but Coran had been oddly pointed in saying that he would handle any cleanup necessary in the general area of the engine room when he’d listed off things that had to be done regarding the castle before they left.

* * *

As Jordan had predicted, Koji was in the infirmary. More specifically, he was sitting by the console in the middle of the room, vacantly staring at the one active device that wasn’t the console.

To the side, Molly looked uncertain, biting her lip a little, before quietly saying “I’ll be right back,” and starting down the hall.

Jordan huffed a bit in response, before saying “You kinda left the rest of us hanging back there, you know,” to Koji. A mumbled apology came in response, and Jordan winced, mostly at himself for his choice of words.

Then he looked around, noting that Rover wasn’t in the room—and that was when it hit him.

It had been a Galra drone exactly like Rover that had caused all of what had happened last night. Hell, Allura had even said earlier that the drone had been read as _being_ _Rover_ by the castle’s security system.

If Jordan had felt guilty for inadvertently making the Arusians think that the world was ending, that was probably nothing compared to what Koji was definitely feeling right now.

 _Especially_ with what happened to Stan.

“Uh, h-hey,” he started, heading over to stand closer to Koji, suddenly finding himself not sure what exactly to say. “I don’t think any of us could’ve known that they had another drone like Rover last…”

He stopped when there was a momentary flicker of an expression Jordan couldn’t name at that moment on Koji’s face, if only because he didn’t recognize it, and it occurred to Jordan that mentioning the reprogrammed drone was probably an even-worse move.

The good news was that Molly came back right then.

The questionable news was that it was signified by her throwing something at their technician. Two things, actually.

Koji blinked a few times, startled, before looking at the offending objects, and then at her, scowling. “Was it _really_ necessary to throw those at me?”

Molly shrugged in response, trying to hide a smile. As for what the objects were, they were slippers that matched the ones that Jordan had found in his closet on the first day, aside from being green in color. _I guess we all have ‘em, then._

She situated herself a relatively-short distance away, and promptly looked a little awkward after seeming like she’d been about to say something.

Blue chose then to intervene by tripping a memory. “That hyperdrive prototype you put on that shuttle works,” Jordan said, silently thanking the Lion.

“Wait, what’s that about a hyperdrive prototype?” Molly asked, looking at Koji and cutting off whatever he’d been about to say.

“Oh, that was just…something we were working on before…” He trailed off, having gotten quieter as he spoke, looking at the active pod again.

“Uh, hey, Stan will be back up and at ‘em tomorrow morning,” Jordan put in, trying to save the conversation. “And he’ll be good as new.” _For the most part,_ he added silently. By the look of it, that one cut near Stan’s eye was there to stay in terms of leaving a mark, now visible as a pale, slightly-jagged line.

“This isn’t working,” Molly whispered, having looked guilty again at noticing what (who) Koji’s attention was on again.

“I know,” Jordan muttered back.

All he knew about either of the mechanics were things he’d heard in passing. Now that it was only them, Shiro, two aliens, four alien mice, and five giant robot cats in one place, that was coming back to bite.

He wanted to fix that, but he wasn’t sure how to.

Jordan paused when he heard footsteps, and looked over his shoulder. As if the thought had summoned him, he saw Shiro there. He’d traded his flight-suit for a more-casual outfit, and was holding something in one hand. “Am I interrupting something?” he asked.

“Not really,” Jordan replied, before asking a question of his own: “What’s that?”

In response, Shiro turned his hand so they could see it—a card deck. “Coran found these earlier. It might be a good way to pass the time.”

 _Might_ , Jordan repeated mentally, eyeing the cards. He didn’t recognize the symbols on them, but considering that they were Altean, that was a given. It was a better idea than just standing around, though, and he shrugged before saying, “I’m in. Molly?”

“Uh…sure.” As they were following Shiro out, Molly paused before backtracking into the room. A stuttered protest was heard from Koji before they both came out, though Molly was dragging him along by his uninjured arm.

He seemed to resign himself to the fact that there was no getting out of it once they were halfway to the lounge, asking “So which one?” when they were there.

“Don’t ask me,” Molly said, an expression briefly crossing her face that looked like something between frustration and awkwardness.

Jordan thought about it for a few seconds, before saying “I got nothing.”

“Kemps?” Shiro suggested, pausing before adding, “It’s the only one I can think of right now. There’s enough cards here.”

“I’ve never heard of it, but sure,” Jordan replied. “How does it go?”

* * *

Truthfully, Shiro’s memory of the game’s rules were spotty at best. Even then, they had to account for there being two-quarters more cards than a standard human deck—the Altean deck of cards has six colors and four symbols instead of two of each, five being the Lions’ colors and the sixth being white. They at least had the same amount of variations in each color for each number.

After what felt like an hour, after their seventh loss, Shiro had begun to regret the decision of suggesting a card game. He was also pretty sure he had a new understanding of the word _regret_ after the twelfth defeat for him and Jordan.

While Koji had picked up on it quickly, it had taken Molly a few minutes to figure out how the rules worked. Once she had, that was _that_ , and Shiro quickly became convinced that they made a pretty good team. If he was the tactician of the two, she was the one that showed no mercy.

There was a small break at one point for dinner, which was rations with a side of some leafy purple vegetables that had been part of the supplies that the Arusians had given them that tasted vaguely like a blend of carrots and asparagus, despite looking more like lettuce.

Jordan insisted on trying a different game after their fifteenth failure, which ended up being six rounds of improvised Go-Fish. Molly dozed off after the third one, and the sixth and final was ended when Jordan went down for the count as well.

Koji still seemed awake for the most part, and was now taking a closer look at the Altean cards. Shiro made note of the dark smudges under his eyes, and quietly rectified his initial plan of trying to talk to him about the prior night’s events, partially because Black had made a point in seeming unsure about now being a good time.

Koji _definitely_ hadn’t gotten any sleep last night.

 _Maybe I can get a few other things answered instead,_ Shiro thought, before saying, “So about the Great Race—how far into it was everyone?”

Koji paused before looking a bit off to one side. “A little over a week. At least, that’s what it felt like.”

“And how many races were there?”

“One a day.” He sounded almost exasperated, but there was a hint of a smile in there. “And, well, things were mostly okay, except for Rick’s accident.”

“What happened?”

Koji huffed a bit in response. “We were all pretty convinced that it was sabotage. Stan and I both _triple_ -checked the _Arrow I_ before the race for any problems, but the left reactor blew out anyways. We were only able to salvage a few parts, and well, Rick can’t race anymore for medical reasons.” He trailed off, looking distant again.

Shiro found himself remembering what the Arusian king had said—or maybe Black had reminded him. He wasn’t sure which, but that didn’t matter. He didn’t have much doubt on what (or _who_ ) Koji was thinking about again.

“What happened last night wasn’t your fault.”

The technician started a little, glancing over at him and away again just as quickly. “It wouldn’t’ve happened if I hadn’t taken Rover though,” was the mumbled response.

“Even if Rover hadn’t been a factor, they could’ve found another way into the castle,” Shiro reasoned. It wasn’t a pleasant thought, but it wasn’t a very far-fetched one either. Silence came in response, and he sighed internally before looking at the clock (sorry, _ticker_ ) on the wall. “I think those two have the right idea.”

“You’re probably right.” Koji glanced at the two younger team members for a few long moments, before saying, “They both look exhausted.”

“You’re not looking too much better than they are.” There was a beat of silence, ended when Shiro had to stifle a yawn. “You should get some sleep too,” he suggested, before starting toward the bridge. As he thought, Allura was there looking at an arc of holoscreens.

The princess saw him after a few moments, dismissing a few of them. “How were the Arusians?”

“They’re doing fine,” Shiro replied. “The village repairs were just about done when we left.”

“That’s good to hear. Where are the others?”

“In the lounge. Molly and Jordan both crashed after a few card games.” He paused, before asking, “Princess, what do you know about Ōban?”

Allura regarded him with some surprised intrigue. “Not much, aside from a few technical facts.” She pulled up the starmap, specifically focusing on one part of a certain galaxy. “It’s likely still the largest planet in your galaxy, and unique in which the other planets and some smaller stars in its system orbit it.”

He could only go off of what he could see on the holographic projection, but Shiro found himself agreeing with the first one. Ōban did look like a pretty big planet, having several large moons.

Allura turned toward him again. “Why did you want to know?”

“There was a ruin on the lake that looked a lot like one that had been on Alwas, according to Molly.”

She blinked once, twice, and then seemed startled. “That’s…peculiar. I may go look at it for myself in the morning before we leave.”

Shiro nodded. “What about the Avatar?”

At that, Allura frowned slightly. “I’m afraid my knowledge about him is even more limited—I visited Alwas during the Pre-Selections of the prior Great Race, and only saw him on one occasion.” Allura shuddered a little, and the mouse that had been sitting on her shoulder squeaked anxiously. “There was something… _off_ about him.”

That gave Shiro some pause. Before they’d found the Red Lion on Alwas, none of the others had said anything like that.

The pause also allowed Allura to change the subject, her tone gaining a serious edge. “I’ve decided where we’ll be going first.” She adjusted the starmap to show a different location as she spoke. “The Balmera that Coran and Jordan went to—we need to free those people.”

“And we will,” Shiro affirmed.

She smiled a little, before saying, “You’ll all have to be adequately rested for it. It’s going to be our first large-scale mission.”

He nodded before offering a quiet goodnight and starting back down the hall. He nearly walked into Coran on the way, who offered a silent nod, smiling while carrying the empty plates from the lounge’s table. A glance back into the room showed that he’d brought in some blankets for the two kids.

Shiro frowned slightly at noticing that Koji was nowhere to be seen. _Well, at least those two asleep,_ he thought. Tomorrow was when things would regain…some sense of normalcy, at least in terms of the team.

On the other hand, leaving Arus to start the fight against Zarkon in earnest was going to be a turning point.

Black’s presence in the back of Shiro’s head flared a little, eager and unsure all at once.


	9. Arc I: Race's End - Liftoff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day starts with a startling revelation from the team's youngest member, and the ensuing voyage toward the Balmera has a notable hiccup. At the same time, Koji's recent behavior toward the others is starting to raise a few concerns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somewhat-major plot thing in this, which I’m hoping I got down right. I also know nothing about mechanical stuff, so any pointers would be extremely appreciated.

“How much longer are we gonna be waiting for?” Eva asked finally, impatience getting the better of her at that point. Right after breakfast and after Allura had gone to take a look at the ruin by the lake, they’d all gone straight to the infirmary; the princess was standing by the computer console, looking through what Eva guessed was some database or another.

“Any dobosh now,” Coran replied, looking at a handheld clock/ticker. She honestly didn’t know how much of a difference a “dobosh” would make, and Stan _looked_ okay…okay enough for someone who was in a medically-induced catatonic state, anyways.

To the side, Jordan was repeatedly tapping one finger against the floor with a bored look on his face, and had been for a few minutes now. Then he stopped, looking over at Koji. “Hey, uh, Koji?” The technician glanced sideways at him, prompting him to go on: “So before…all of this, Stan said something about that nunvil stuff tasting like engine oil. You know anything about that?”

If the look on Koji’s face was anything to go on, he _did_ know something about it. Coran glanced over at them as well. “I’m unsure of what this _engine oil_ you’re talking about is, but something tells me it’s not typically edible.”

“It’s not,” Eva confirmed. They had Shiro’s attention now as well, and Allura glanced away from the console, both looking curious.

“Well, uh…I kind of promised not to…” Koji trailed off, looking between each of them before sighing resignedly. “Okay, fine, just—just don’t say anything about it. It was about seven years ago, and we had a star-racer called the _Storm II_ in for repairs. I don’t remember what was wrong with it, just that it was enough for us to have to pull an all-nighter.”

“And?” Eva pressed. She thought she felt a chill for a second, but Coran had said earlier that the castle’s “thermal regulator” still had to be reset.

“Well…leaving a coffee mug and a can of engine oil next to each other when you’re half asleep isn’t a good idea, and…” He trailed off, looking at Shiro, who was now focused on the pod that was active. At least, it _had been_ active—Koji froze when he saw that it wasn’t anymore.

The look of indignant betrayal on Stan’s face was almost funny.

For a few seconds, nothing happened, until Stan finally said, “That’s payback for the maze, isn’t it.” Koji stammered a bit before mumbling an apology, which got a half-smile in response. “Hey, I’m the one who slipped it in the first place, so don’t worry about it.”

“Stan, how’re you feeling?” Jordan asked hesitantly.

“Uh…really cold?” He looked around, confused. “Wait, what happened? What’re we all doing in here?”

There was a brief silence, before Coran asked, “What’s the last thing you can remember?”

“We were talking on the bridge. And then…” Stan shook his head. “Nothing, ‘cept waking up just now. Seriously, what the hell happened?”

“We can tell you about it once you’ve gotten something to eat,” Allura said. “You’ve been in there for an entire quintant.”

“A quin— _what_?!”

They wound up explaining most of it on the way down the hall— _they_ being Allura, Coran, Shiro, and Jordan.

“So lemme get this straight,” he started once they’d reached the dining hall, only paying half attention to the plate of rations Coran provided; he’d taken in all of the details quietly. “Sendak survived his ship crashing, and somehow managed to get a bomb in here.”

“That’s the gist of it,” Allura replied, before frowning a little. “I’m just glad that the initial scan the castle took of you all was enough to let the cryopod configure itself properly. If it hadn’t, you might not have survived the blast.”

“…oh.”

 _Oh_ was putting it mildly. Someone Eva had barely spoken to unless it was necessary had almost gotten killed not even two days ago, and he only would’ve known a front that she’d invented she’d invented on the spot when her dad hadn’t recognized her.

That detail was less and less appealing the more she thought about it.

There was a short, tense silence, and Allura’s expression brightened a little when she added, “The good news is that we know exactly where we’ll be going now.”

“Back to the Balmera me and Coran went to,” Jordan clarified before Stan could ask.

Red was persistently lurking in the back of Eva’s head right now, being sure to point out that they were all in the same room right now. _I know that,_ she thought, focusing on the table.

Allura knew her real name was already, and Eva had a nagging feeling that Shiro was getting suspicious when it came to her avoiding that question of his on the beach.

She took a deep breath, Red now purring reassuringly. The one reason she kept her identity secret wasn’t here. (She had no idea where he was and that thought was still terrifying, but the sooner they left Arus the sooner they’d have a chance of finding him and Rick.)

Eva didn’t have a valid reason to go by Molly anymore. Not to everyone who was here right now.

“I think it’s time we got moving,” Shiro said, standing up. “The sooner we get to the Balmera, the better.”

“H-Hold on a second,” Eva started, trying to keep the stutter out of her voice. “There’s—something I should…p-probably tell you guys first.”

The others all stopped where they were heading for the hall leading to the bridge, looking back at her. She subconsciously swallowed when she noticed that, taking another breath to try to steady her nerves, which suddenly seemed insistent on going haywire.

Jordan frowned, puzzled. “Uh, Molly, what’re you—”

“That’s not actually my name.”

It was out in one go, being louder than she’d intended, but she’d said it. At the same time, she suddenly felt like it was impossible to breathe, and a little lightheaded.

The confusion from everyone else was practically tangible, save for Allura, for whom it had been replaced by comprehension. All four of the mice, having been running around on the table, were at attention now as well.

The princess was smiling faintly in an encouraging way, and Red was broadcasting a prideful sort of reassurance.

There was no going back now anyways, so she might as well finish it. “It’s, um…Eva.”

* * *

For a few seconds, Jordan stood there wondering if he’d misheard something, until Blue (she seemed just as stunned as he was feeling) informed him that he hadn’t by means of briefly metaphorically yanking him into a disconcertingly-realistic flashback of the first day on Alwas.

“So _that’s_ what you almost said back then,” he blurted, eyes wide. She’d _almost_ said her name had been Eva back then, before saying Molly instead.

Shiro broke out of the shock next. “I’m glad you told us,” he said, smiling warmly. “Owning who you are will help you grow as a person.” In response, Molly— _Eva_ —exhaled quietly, seeming relieved.

At least, until Coran asked, “Is it normal for humans to have two names?” which brought the panicked look back.

“Not really,” Koji replied, both he and Stan looking lost. “Mol—Ev—wait, which one do you…?”

“Eva’s fine,” she mumbled. Coran’s question also had Jordan wondering about _why_ she’d had them all thinking that her name was Molly, but he didn’t get a chance to ask.

“You can tell us why when you’re ready to,” Shiro said, and she looked up at him for a few long moments.

Then, huffing a bit, she responded with “Well, weren’t we going to get moving after Stan got up?”

“That was the plan, but—” Allura started.

“Then let’s go!” She turned on her heel and started for the door, with the parting words of “The sooner we get moving, the sooner we can find Rick and my dad!”

And that was what had Jordan’s mind break for the second time that day. _Her…_ what _?_

“I’m sorry, did—did I miss something?” Coran asked after a few moments of shocked silence, glancing between all of them.

“I think all of us did,” Koji replied distractedly, looking equally lost. “If—if she really—really is Don Wei’s daughter, then why did she have all of us think her name was something else?”

 _That’s a good question,_ Jordan thought. There was no way the team manager could’ve been in on it, with how he acted with her—but then how hadn’t he recognized her? Don didn’t seem much like a family person to begin with, but Jordan didn’t think she’d lie about something like that. Blue rumbled confused agreement in the back of his head.

Shiro stood a little straighter then, his eyes widening. “Shiro?” Allura started. “Do you know anything about this?”

“Maya Wei,” was the somber response given, and the air in the room seemed to suddenly weigh a ton.

The silence was broken only by a quiet curse from Stan, paling minutely before muttering “ _That_ might explain a few things.”

“How so?” Allura looked guardedly curious now. “Who is that?

“A pretty famous star-racer pilot. Won three championships in a row.”

“And?” Jordan pressed, feeling uneasy. The other three human team members looked more than a little forlorn, which gave him an idea on what might’ve happened to this Maya person.

That she shared a last name with Don had a pretty clear implication on who _else_ she was, and that only threw Jordan even further for a loop.

It was Shiro that finished. “It was during the first interplanetary star-racing competition held on Earth, ten years ago. I don’t know what exactly happened, but… ” He grimaced before finishing, “A part of the ship caught fire and it exploded.” The room went silent again for what felt like an hour, with only Coran saying something that Jordan didn’t catch. _No wonder she never wanted to talk about her family._

Finally, Allura cleared her throat. “Well, all of this aside,” she started, voice hitching almost imperceptibly, “Eva had a point. The sooner we can get to the Balmera, the sooner we can free its inhabitants from the Galra.”

Eva was on the bridge already, having been sitting on the floor, but she scrambled to her feet when she saw them—and that was when it occurred to Jordan that he wasn’t sure what to say to her now.

Coran went right to the computer console, followed closely by both Stan and Koji, whereas Allura took her spot at the center pedestal, an array of holoscreens appearing right after the control sticks. It was also followed by the room having five extra chairs coincidentally color-coded and by each respective shortcut to the Lion hangars appear from the floor, but Jordan wasn’t really paying much attention to that detail.

Right after the display panels lit up, the foundation that the castle/ship was set on jolted, followed by muffled sounds of a landslide. Blue was practically buzzing in the back of his head with apprehensive excitement.

They were leaving Arus to go free the Balmera…and head off even further away from Earth at the same time.

The sky faded to black in not even a minute, the low humming sound that had been echoing through the castle and felt through the floor quieting somewhat. Eva stepped up to one of the panels, looking closely at the screen, and after a momentary hesitation, Jordan went to stand next to her.

The first time he’d been in space had been in the Avatar’s ship on the way to Alwas. All Jordan could remember of it was that he’d passed out almost immediately, and only woke up after they’d gotten there. It wasn’t a very memorable occurrence.

The second time had been the five of them in the Red Lion, and there had been too much happening in too short a time for him to focus on anything aside from their immediate actions at the time.

The third had been him, Shiro, and Koji in the Green Lion going to infiltrate Sendak’s ship to rescue Blue; he’d been pretty single-minded in getting to and from solid ground then.

The fourth and fifth time had been to and from the Balmera with Coran in the shuttle. Jordan had been too worried about Stan to even _think_ about stopping to look around.

This sixth time, he actually looked around. He’d known that space was…well, _big_ , but that detail hadn’t quite hit home until they’d found how far Arus was from Earth. The view now only reinforced that, featuring nothing but inky darkness and specks of light that were stars. “Some view,” he muttered to himself.

Allura stepped back from the pedestal, saying, “We should reach the Balmera within half a varga.”

“What exactly is going to happen when we get there?” Stan asked.

“We’ll work on that as we go,” Shiro replied. “In the meantime, make sure you’re ready for when we do get there.”

That probably meant having their flight-suits and bayards. _And maybe I can get a few minutes of target practice in while I’m at it,_ Jordan thought. Then something occurred to him. “Hey, um…”

He caught himself about to say _Molly_ , stopping at the last second, but she looked sideways at him anyways. “Yeah?”

“You needed practice with aiming your bayard, right?” The guarded look stayed when she nodded. “Well, I was thinking that maybe…” He paused, his confidence flagging abruptly. “Maybe we could head down to the training deck for that. That sound okay?”

“Uh…sure,” was the slow response, before she smirked a little. “But I’m _pretty sure_ aiming a gun is different from aiming a bow.”

Jordan faulted a bit, hearing a stifled chuckle from Stan. “It’s—it’s the same basic principle!”

* * *

Jordan sometimes just wasn’t good at talking to the youngest member of the team, and it was both endearing and exasperating at the same time. Stan felt a little dazed from the barrage of information he’d gotten over the past ten minutes—the matter of  _Eva_  being the cherry on top.

At the same time, a good part of that dazedness came from the fact that he’d apparently been out for the entirety of an Altean equivalent of a day after taking the brunt of an explosion that had shattered the castle’s original power-crystal.

At the most, he could remember a sort of blur after talking to Coran, before waking up in the infirmary feeling absolutely  _freezing_.

“You could go with them,” Shiro suggested.

“Maybe some other time,” Stan replied after a short pause—Shiro had a point there, but something about that thought was still daunting.

Part three to the dazedness was the excited trepidation from Yellow that had struck him two seconds after he’d computed what Koji had told the others. (He distinctively remembered Koji having promised to never,  _ever_ tell anyone about that.)

Stan had a feeling that he wouldn’t know about everything that happened during the time he was literally out cold, but it was pretty obvious that all of it had been serious.

For one, Jordan had seemed anxious when talking about the Balmerans. He hadn’t looked it at all, but some subconscious part of Stan had picked up on it. Barely, but still. If he had to guess, it was the freaky mind-link at work.

For a second, he’d just learned more about their team’s second star-racer pilot in one morning than he had in over a week, most notably the detail of her name  _not_  being Molly. 

He had a few ideas as to why she’d gone on like that, but he was going to wait until he knew more before making a definite conclusion.

For a third…he glanced around the room, and realized that there were actually  _three_  less people in the room than before. Shiro looked around as well, blinking, before asking, “Does Koji do that a lot?”

“Not really.”  _Just when he doesn’t want to be around anyone._

“If I had to guess, he’s off to work on that secret project some more,” Coran supplied. 

 _Project?_ There were a few things Stan could think of that would classify as that, the hyperdrive prototype being one of them—but Koji wasn’t in the shuttle hangar when he went to check. An assortment of small tools were scattered on the floor near the  _Arrow_ , specifically by Eva’s rocket-seat, which suggested that she’d made an attempt on finding the right ones to help her put it back in earlier.

His room was also vacant, which left Stan at a loss.  _Where else would he be?_ Before he could put any further thought into it, yet another new alarm started echoing through the halls, and he stifled an irritated groan before turning back toward the bridge.

He made it back there in time to catch the end of Allura saying what it was—something about a ship that lost power somewhere nearby, and that they were changing course to help them.  _“Wait, what about the Balmera?”_  Jordan asked.

“The Paladin Code states that we must help anyone who needs it,” was her response, which earned a few irritated sputters that ended with a resigned groan, after Stan dimly heard Molly ( _Eva_ , dang it) say something to him. “Jordan, Eva, Koji, meet us by the main lift. Make sure you’re suited up.”

* * *

The main lift looked nothing like the other elevators, though that was because it wasn’t an elevator at all. It made sense for there to be a second exit to the castle, considering that the main doorway was some hundred meters away from the ground now.

When the doors slid open, they were greeted with the sight of two gobsmacked aliens and one robot; one of the former, purple-skinned and donning a hat that looked like something out of an aviation museum back on Earth, grinned after a few startled seconds, saying “Nice ship.”

Like the initial encounter with the Arusians, Allura took the lead. “I am Princess Allura of Altea, and these are the Paladins of Voltron,” she introduced. “We’ve come to assist you in any way we can.”

“Good to hear. I’m Rolo.” He gestured to the second alien—tall and yellow-skinned with purple eyes, who waved a bit. “This is Nyma, and our cyber-unit here is Beezer.” The robot beeped a few times, the ear-like parts on top of it waving slightly. “You don’t know how glad we are to see some friendly faces. Most folks don’t want to get tangled up with anyone who’s on the run from the Galra.”

“You’re fighting the Galra too?” Shiro asked, side-eying the blocky-looking ship. He wasn’t complaining—that anyone else was fighting against the Galra _at all_ was a good sign.

“Well, not directly. I don’t think Zarkon is exactly quaking in his boots at the three of us, but we do what we can.”

“So what happened to you guys?” Stan sounded perplexed. “Your ship _looks_ okay.”

Rolo grimaced in response. “The thermal pipe cracked. Roasted almost the entire flaxum assembly. We were able to limp to this moon ‘bout a movement ago—we were starting to lose hope that anyone friendly would come by.”

“I’m sure we have at least some of the things you need,” Allura said. “Do you have a list of what exactly needs to be replaced?” In response, Beezer produced what, in all honesty, looked like a receipt. Stan took it after a few seconds, scowling a little before muttering something about Coran probably being able to make sense of whatever was on it and heading back to the lift.

“Hang on a tick,” Rolo said, jogging over to him. “We’ll go with you. You shouldn’t have to carry all of that by yourself. C’mon guys.”

“Then I’m going too,” Jordan put in, an edge in his tone. Before Shiro could say anything about that, he clarified “Last time we let someone we barely knew in, a bomb got set off and one of us almost got killed.” To the side, the others flinched a little, Koji moreso.

It was Shiro’s turn to grimace then, partially at himself for not having thought of that earlier and partially at Jordan’s choice of words, but only for a moment. “We can all go, then.”

“There’s no fault in being cautious,” Nyma said dismissively. “It’s every team for themselves out here.”

“How come you’re all the way out here, anyway?” Eva asked once they were back in the castle.

“I could ask you the same, squirt,” Rolo remarked good-naturedly, and she scowled a little at the name.

“I’m pretty sure our story’s longer,” Jordan deflected.

Rolo glanced sideways at him before saying, “My planet was destroyed by the Galra and I was taken captive. Happened a few phoebs ago.”

Allura momentarily paused. “Which planet?”

“Drios Ten. Was on the smaller end of the scale, and it was kind of a backwater, but it’s a backwater I miss. I managed to escape, but not without losing something.” He tapped his right knee, and Shiro heard a metallic sound.

“I know how that feels,” he said sympathetically, clenching his prosthetic’s fist so that the mechanism of it could be heard.

“Anduel’s been under the Empire’s boot since before I was born,” Nyma said. “I took off the first chance I got, and met Rolo not too long after that. It’s not easy, but we get by.”

They reached the supply room quickly enough, which was lined with multiple crates filled with various mechanical parts. “So what can you tell us about Zarkon’s forces?” Allura pressed. “Where are they concentrated?”

Rolo looked toward the ceiling. “His command ship sits right in the center of it all. He mostly calls the shots from there and has his minions do the work—which commander it is depends on _where_ the work is. This is the territory of a nasty bugger named Sendak.”

“We’ve met,” was Jordan’s toneless remark, coinciding with a muttered “ _Nasty_ ’s an understatement,” from Eva.

“How far are we from the center of it?” Shiro asked.

“There’s several dozen galaxies between here and there,” Nyma replied.

“Several _dozen_ ,” Stan repeated flatly, eyes wide.

“And counting.”

“You guys aren’t the only ones, right?” Eva sounded hesitant in asking. “I mean—the only other rebels, I mean.”

“There’s a few groups here and there, but the most they can do is guerrilla raids. We used to run with Olia’s group, but split off not too long ago. Olia’s is probably the most organized out of them. Aside from the groups, it’s just anyone that hasn’t been colonized yet.”

* * *

There was nothing quite like having an already-abysmal situation being put further into perspective. The upside to it was that it wasn’t just the seven of them out there, and that Koji now knew where all the mechanical parts were kept in the castle.

It’d be useful for when there was free time to get started on the _Arrow_ ’s repairs, or for finishing that cloaking function he’d been trying to figure out for Green.

He felt like he should be helping the others find the parts on the list Beezer had provided, but the storeroom was pretty small for the ten of them—

“You’re awfully quiet.” Koji started at hearing Nyma right next to him, scrambling a bit to the side. She put her hands up a little. “Didn’t mean to scare you there. What’s your name, anyways?”

“Uh, Koji.”

She nodded before continuing with, “Koji, got it. So what did the princess mean by calling you guys _paladins_ before, anyways?”

So much for this going without a hitch. “I think the title’s more of a formality,” he replied carefully.

“Well, what about Voltron? What’s that?”

“I’m…not actually sure, but I think it has to do with the Lions.”

She quirked one brow. “Lions?”

“They’re—they’re ships.”

She blinked, looking even more curious now, and he resisted the urge to smack himself for saying that much. “Can I see them?”

He bit his lip slightly. This was quickly going past the timeframe which he could keep a steady conversation with someone he barely knew, but Green was curious about the two rebels. “Well…”

“There’s a magnetic spring not too far from here,” Nyma went on. “Have you ever seen one of those?”

“No,” Koji replied, his own curiosity now piqued. “What’s that?”

“It’s a deposit of metals that’s kept in a liquid form because of certain magnetic fields. No one’s really sure what causes them, though.”

…that actually _did_ sound interesting. A glance toward the others showed that the movable bin was almost filled (since when?) now, and that the others were engrossed in trying to detach a pipe-like object from a tangle of other parts in a way that wouldn’t bring the whole pile down.

 _Eva could help Stan with the ship’s repairs,_ he thought after mulling it over a little. Besides, Nyma said it wasn’t too far from here. _Maybe we could be there and back before anyone noticed._

The time it took to get there did not match up with the amount of ground Green passed over, but to be fair, Green was flying pretty fast, slowing only when they got near the spring. Nyma had looked pretty floored at seeing Green, which had resulted in the Lion radiating smugness.

At first it looked just like a stretch of reflective ground, until Nyma kicked a rock into it, which sent ripples all across the surface. “There’s at least a dozen metals in there,” Koji listed off aloud, reading the list that his gauntlet’s computer provided. “It’s mostly chromium, but that doesn’t make any sense, because this is all at room-temperature and that has a melting point of over three-thousand degrees. This shouldn’t be anywhere _near_ being in a liquid state.”

He had a few vague ideas on how it was being kept from solidifying, but he didn’t get a chance to actually put any thought to them, because the next he knew he’d been shoved to the side into the tree he was crouched next to, hard and fast enough for everything to go dark for a short time.

The next thing he knew, he was staring up at the tree’s branches while strongly regretting not having taken the suit’s helmet with him, Nyma was nowhere to be seen—and Green was gone.

Green was gone and there was a furious sort of panic emanating from her that was a clear-enough sign in itself on _why_ both she and Nyma were gone.

* * *

It felt almost surreal, in two different ways—the first of which being that the planet (correction, _moon_ ) they were on was nothing like Earth, Alwas, or Arus, in that it was really just purple-hued soil everywhere, large rock formations, and solitary pale-gray trees here and there.

The second was that Eva was having to get used to hearing her actual name from the others. Sure, there were stutters here and there from almost everyone, but it was just… _weird_.

At the same time, she felt like a huge weight had been taken off of her.

“You guys ever work with one of these before?” Rolo asked after opening the large panel in the side of his and Nyma’s ship.

“Aside from right now, no,” Stan replied. “It doesn’t look too different from what I’m used to, though.”

“Cool. Shout if you need any help with it.”

The flaxum assembly was a whole mess’s worth of parts, a good portion of them being rusted. Despite the design differences and the detail of it being a lot bigger than what she really knew how to work with, Eva recognized the general layout of it after a few minutes’ worth of watching. “Hey, um, Stan?” she spoke up after a little while. “Is there anything I can help with?”

There was a pause before he came out from under the damaged reactor. “Think you’d be able to reach the thermal pipe under there?” He sounded almost sheepish before adding, “It’s in a pretty tight spot.”

“Just gimme a second,” she replied, slipping under the machinery. Stan hadn’t been kidding—the lever for releasing the pipe was in a space just barely wide enough for her arm, and it took a bit for her to get a good grip on it. Once pulled, the old pipe dropped to the ground. Putting the new one in was easier, at least.

It was as Eva was standing up that she noticed that the old pipe, apart from a small fracture on one side, looked otherwise fine.

“Too many light-years on it, I guess,” was Rolo’s response to Stan pointing it out aloud. “I think this rig’s just about ready for a test flight now.” He closed the panel and jogged over to the hatch leading into the ship. “Beezer, come co-pilot for me.”

Then they were off, faster than a ship of that shape should’ve been able to move from a standstill. The gust from it moving almost took Eva off of her feet. “What, not even a thanks?” Jordan grumbled.

Shiro turned toward them. “Stan, is something wrong?”

“I don’t get it,” was the muttered reply while he turned the old pipe over in his hands a few times, frowning. “This thing looks fine. I mean, there’s a small crack right there, but I don’t think that’s big enough to cause any real issues.”

“Maybe they were just playing it safe.” A pause. “Wait, did Koji come back out here with us?”

“And where’s that other girl?” Jordan asked, having spun in a quick circle. “I don’t think she came back out either.”

 _I’m starting to get a bad feeling about this,_ Eva thought at seeing that Jordan was right. Then she stumbled, blinking at the sudden _fury_ rolling off of Red’s presence in the back of her head. To the side, she saw Stan jump a bit, and Jordan stopped mid-word in whatever he’d been saying to Shiro.

Eva frowned a little at nothing in particular. “Red, what’s—” she started, only to be cut off by a series of images flashing across her vision: Rolo, Nyma, Beezer; their ship racing off; the Green Lion; the open expanse of space above them.

Shiro stood up straighter, putting his helmet on. “Coran, can you pinpoint where Koji is?”

_“Just a tick…he’s a few leagues to the west of us.”_

“And the Green Lion?”

There was a pause, broken by Coran coughing forcibly. _“Well, it’s—it’s not on the moon, that’s for sure.”_

“ _I knew it_!” Jordan exploded, already turning toward the lift.

“Everyone, to your Lions,” Shiro ordered, tone slipping into the no-nonsense one he’d used when they’d infiltrated Sendak’s ship. “Princess, could you go get Koji?”

“I was already intending to,” she replied. “Contact us when you’ve retrieved the Green Lion.”

They made use of the shortcuts to the Lions’ hangars from the bridge this time, and Red was lunging upwards before Eva even had a chance to move the handles herself. _“I_ knew _something seemed weird about all of that,”_ Stan was going on angrily. _“When Rolo said the assembly was roasted, I figured almost_ everything _would have to get replaced, not just the pipe! That whole reactor should’ve been toast!”_

“I think we get it,” Eva interjected as the others fell into place on either side of her. Red’s HUD displayed a path on which direction to go, up until they reached an asteroid field. While Red stopped in place along with Black and Blue, Yellow kept going forward, hitting one of the reddish-colored rocks. _“Whoa, Stan, you okay?”_ Jordan asked, startled.

 _“I’m fine,”_ was the grunted response. _“Just spaced out for a sec.”_ Eva’s eyes narrowed a little—Stan wasn’t really one to _space out_ like that.

The Blue Lion turned its head to look toward the asteroid field, in time to see the one Yellow had hit collide with another one, leaving a dent in it. _“I’m not going in there,”_ was the deadpanned remark given.

_“Then how are we going to catch ‘em?”_

_“Eva, the Red Lion would have the easiest time getting through there,”_ Shiro said after a moment. _“Get in there and flush them out.”_

“I’m on it,” she affirmed, and Red charged in. The narrow pathway she was first faced with was reminiscent of the racetrack on Alwas, with the one gigantic difference being that obstacles could come from anywhere—but that was where Red’s design proved itself in terms of adaptability, being able to jump off of smaller ones to change direction quickly. Rolo’s ship came into sight soon after the field opened up, signified by them shooting at Red.

A few rolls both clockwise and counter-clockwise were more than adequate to avoid them, but right as Eva thought she’d caught up to them, the ship banked to the side and she had to slam the brakes to avoid running into an asteroid, before banking sharply upwards, Red running on the surface of the rock, claws digging into the surface for traction.

Eva had felt sympathetic for them earlier, at hearing what they’d gone through, and this was how they repaid that? By conning them like this?

She tightened her grip on the controls, and fired a shot of her own. It hit squarely on the engine they’d “fixed,” causing it to burst into short-lived flames, and the ship slowed to a stop.

Red obligingly opened up a comm link. “You can give Green back anytime now, y’know,” Eva said flatly. Rolo and Nyma both grimaced in response.

* * *

It had taken a few minutes for them to drag the _now-actually-broken_ ship back to the moon they’d originally been on. Rolo, Nyma, and Beezer came out shortly after Red let the ship down by the castle.

Koji didn’t waste any time in going in to get the Green Lion, shooting a look that was nothing short of venomous at Nyma when he walked by her. She’d glanced off to the side in response.

“We help you, and you try robbing us,” Jordan said, arms crossed and tone dripping with sarcasm. “Seriously, that’s a _great_ first impression.”

Nyma scowled at him. “Look kid, like I said earlier, it’s everyone for themselves out here.”

“Bullshit,” he spat. “You were gonna hand Green over to the Galra, weren’t you?” They both flinched, not denying it. “Huh. Thought so.”

“Watch it runt,” Rolo growled. “We saw an opportunity, and we took it. This one Galra commander, Prorok, put out a pretty hefty bounty on all five of you.”

Jordan sputtered a bit, ready to make another retort, before his brain processed what Rolo had just said. Eva and Stan both looked up sharply, and Shiro’s eyes darkened. “Define _hefty_ ,” he said evenly.

“About fifty-thousand GAC each. Almost triple that for the Black Lion—and the other four are doubled if their pilots are included.”

The amount of sense made by the detail of the aliens they were fighting considering them criminals was alarming, when it shouldn’t have been at all.

Allura, who had been watching the exchange stoically, looked up at seeing the Green Lion fly overhead toward its hangar, before saying, “Thank you for this information. We can leave you with some parts to repair your ship, but that will be all we can do.”

 _Why help them more at all?_ Eva asked that very question—she used a different wording, but it was the same general idea.

“Desperation can lead one to do things they normally wouldn’t,” was Allura’s response. “Despite what just occurred, I don’t think those two meant any ill-will toward us. If they had, I doubt they would have left Koji behind.” Eva looked uncertain at the response, while Stan’s expression darkened.

Jordan stayed quiet until he, Shiro, and Allura reached the bridge; the other two meandered off toward the shuttle hangar instead.

“Do you really think that’s true?” he asked Shiro after mulling it over some more, keeping his voice down so that Allura and Coran wouldn’t hear.

Shiro shrugged his shoulders slightly. “Honestly? I’m not sure.” He paused, before adding, “The princess had a point, though. I can name a few dozen things that happened on Earth that reflect that.” Jordan looked at him, then at the viewscreens at the front of the bridge.

He wasn’t wrong, and neither was Allura.

* * *

The upside to all of it was that Stan knew where all the spare mechanical parts were kept. He’d stopped by there to grab a few things that might work with the _Arrow_ after some modifications, before heading to the hangar bay.

The current object of his attention was a module that he’d taken apart after a few minutes of figuring out which tool worked best as a wrench. It was similar to the one that he and Koji had modified and put onto one of the shuttles, and would eventually be part of the _Arrow_ ’s new hyperdrive.

The sound of the door opening had him glance over his shoulder from where he was sitting on the floor, and Eva stopped mid-step at seeing him look. “Eva? You need something?” he asked, putting the wrench down.

“N-Not really. I mean—” She hesitated, before asking a question of her own. “Um…what’re you doing?”

Stan looked sideways at her for a few seconds, and then back at the module. “Trying to reconfigure this so we can use it for the repairs.”

“Can I help?”

“Well…” It was Stan’s turn to pause there—Yellow’s presence became a little more noticeable, coinciding with Stan abruptly remembering Eva asking that same question before, day-one on Alwas, though then it had been referring to prepping the _Arrow I_ for the first (and only/disaster of a) race.

Now that he was thinking back on it, she’d looked really downcast at hearing he and Koji had it handled.

“I don’t see why not,” he said finally, and the split-second of disappointment on her face that was replaced by bewildered surprise wasn’t lost on him.

“Is this going to be for the hyperdrive?” she queried after a minute. He nodded, prompting her to add, “The one you and Koji stuck on that shuttle works, too. I don’t think Coran mentioned that.”

 _He hadn’t_ , Stan recalled. _And speaking of Koji…_

“Did something happen yesterday? Koji doesn’t usually avoid everyone like this. Or do stuff like earlier.” The second part was added as an afterthought. Koji was one of the best judges of character that Stan knew, so the near-robbery was more than a little strange.

Not to mention he hadn’t seen Rover once yet today. Considering that the small drone followed Koji _everywhere_ , it was a little strange.

“No. Well, I mean…” For a few seconds, Eva’s gaze wandered off to the side, one hand clenching slightly, before she finished, “He didn’t tell any of us about that burn he got shorting out the castle’s engine.”

Static for a few seconds. “What burn?”

The words came out a little sharper than Stan had intended, and she flinched a little before pointing to two places on her arm. “It went from here to there. It’s bandaged up now, but it looked like it hurt.”

That settled it: something was wrong here. “You said he was in Green’s hangar?” Stan asked, standing up and starting to turn toward the door.

“Well, yeah, but—h-hold on a second!”

Stan had made it halfway to the doorway before she’d raised her voice a bit, though she seemed to shrink a little when he turned to look at her again.

Despite the fact that his thoughts were pretty focused on the detail of something _obviously_ _not being right_ with Koji right now, what bits and pieces he knew about Eva’s general personality was that she wasn’t exactly the _nervous_ type; it was just enough to evenly divide his attention.

“Are you okay?” he asked cautiously, watching her carefully. Eva looked up at him briefly, before her attention was off the side again.

Then, after a deep breath, she got out, “I’m—I’m fine, but—a-are _you_ okay?”

“Yeah,” he replied slowly. “Why?”

“You don’t usually space out like you did earlier.” He almost didn’t hear her that time.

“That was nothing,” he dismissed lightly. “’m just a bit tired.” Her concern was a little off-putting, if he had to be honest with himself…at least, until Yellow gave a small concerned rumble of his own, sending a very specific impression of someone.

The last person any of them saw badly injured had been Rick, after his accident.

Which, coincidentally, had been _explosion-related_ , and given that they’d found almost too late that Rick hadn’t been as fine as the doctors on Alwas had thought, it almost made too much sense for Eva to be worried.

How the hell hadn’t he figured that out earlier?

“Hey, it’ll take more than something blowing up in my face to put me down,” he joked, only to have to suppress a flinch at the thorough _exasperation_ from Yellow. Then he noticed Eva’s borderline-horrified expression, faltering a bit. _Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best thing to say._ “But, uh, considering I was out for a day, that’s normal.”

She didn’t reply, keeping her attention off to the side, and Stan winced. He was pretty sure he had a new understanding for how Jordan felt now.

“Uh, you know which way Green’s hangar is from here?” he asked, deciding on changing the subject. “I’d rather find Koji _before_ we get to the Balmera.”

* * *

They were still a good ten minutes away from the Balmera, but Allura had told them to keep their flight-suits on, so Koji hadn’t bothered leaving Green’s hangar. Instead, he’d gone right to the desk he’d managed to drag into the hangar from one of the empty rooms nearby to grab his tablet.

The first ordeal had been adding new lines of coding to the device so that it would display Altean—of which included more than _eighty_ symbols. That had taken up most of yesterday.

The second had been to put together an adapter so that he could charge his tablet off of the castle’s power. Figuring out how to wire it, and then testing it in a way that wouldn’t accidentally fry the device had taken most of the night.

The third part was copying the data for the cloaking function into a blank file, which had taken less than five minutes, surprisingly—binary code was apparently a universal constant.

And that left the third and final part: accessing Green’s shielding systems. Given how easy the third part had been, Koji really should’ve expected this last one to be a whole new caliber of headache.

“I thought you liked this idea,” he complained, looking up at Green from where he was sitting by one of her claws.

It was a friendly reminder on just how _big_ the Lions were, even the smaller two; standing up, he still wouldn’t be able to reach the top of her paw.

She didn’t show any response, but he wasn’t really surprised by that, given the blunder that happened earlier. Actually, _blunder_ was putting it nicely. In reality it was probably his biggest screw-up so far, ranking second only to—

He shook his head quickly, before looking at the list of access points on the screen. They all looked the same (a lot of Altean letters looked annoyingly similar to each other) to him, and Green was staunchly refusing to give him any hints.

But then again, the Lion had every single right to be angry at him, because him screwing up like that had almost gotten her stolen.

Koji paused, glancing over to the console set into the wall on one end of the hangar. If how it had just lit up was any indicator, it was the first access point in the list. _Maybe the second one?_ A few seconds later, though he wasn’t too sure, he was thinking yes.

If only because he’d immediately been faced with an error screen.

Maybe that was for the better. For all he knew, he could easily render Green’s shield inoperable by mistake if he tried messing with anything. Sure, he could list off every feature of the programming that had gone into the _Arrow_ ’s sensor systems, and _maybe_ he’d been entertaining the idea of a remote piloting system for the star-racer, but apart from that, he was just a mechanic.

Definitely not a pilot for a ten-thousand-year-old sentient robotic lion.

Koji felt something nudge him not quite gently from behind, and he glanced over his shoulder. Then he jumped almost two feet straight up when he found himself face-to-face with Green. He hadn’t heard her move—heck, he hadn’t even _known_ she could move by herself! (Wait, no. Red moved by himself on Alwas.)

“So you’re…not mad or anything?” he asked hesitantly.

The low purr that came in response was tinged with reassurance. She was equally at fault in not being cautious enough. _So, we both screwed up._

Still bad, but not…well, _as_ bad. She also seemed to be trying to convey the idea of more screw-ups being unfortunately likely, and that was unfortunately a good point. Though the chances of any future ones being as bad as what happened to—

Koji stopped that thought before it could finish.

At the same time, there was a crackling sound from the intercom system, right before he heard Allura: _“Everyone to the bridge, please. We’re approaching the Balmera.”_

He hissed out a breath, looking at the tablet screen again. “Could you at least tell me how to get through this?” he asked, gesturing at the device.

Green purred in response, and the error message was promptly replaced by a screen of coding.

“…you were doing that on purpose, weren’t you.”


	10. Arc I: Race's End - Equilibrium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team's first large-scale mission leads to a few revelations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If it isn't obvious, the ending scene is meant to be purely _platonic_ , given the backstory I have in mind for the two involved. It was also an absolute monster to write, given that it was my first time writing something like that.  
> Before anyone says anything about it, I’m painfully aware that we haven’t seen much in the way of Shiro, Allura, or Coran yet. Juggling seven characters (technically twelve if you count the Lions) is really hard. I’m going to try to fix that in the future uploads.

If there was one thing Shiro and Black could definitely agree on at this moment in time, it was that the apparent ease in which Molly had given them the detail of her name actually being _Eva_ was impressive.

Eva had also stated that her father was their racing team’s manager.

It had been their surname, Wei, that had triggered what otherwise would have been a trivial memory, of watching that ill-fated competition on TV.

He still had some questions, but he decided that the best course of action here would be to wait for her to open up more to them.

(Trying to force a conversation with Keith had never ended well, and Eva reminded Shiro of Keith. They might get along, if they ever met.)

“So that’s the Balmera?” Stan asked, looking ahead at the front viewscreen. He and Eva had come up to Shiro’s right shortly after Allura had called them all to the bridge. Jordan was standing rigidly to the left.

“Yes,” Allura replied, glaring up at the 3D model of the Balmera that was hovering about a foot in front of her, expanded for them all to see easily. There were multiple red blips all over it. “And there’s a considerable amount of Galra there. Much more than what we faced on Arus.” She looked over her shoulder when the door opened, and Shiro followed her gaze. Koji stopped for a second, looking a little sheepish; it had been a few minutes since Allura had called them all there.

“There was a lot in the tunnels, too,” Jordan noted. “How come they aren’t showing up on that?”

The Altean frowned in response. “The castle’s scanners aren’t fully operational right now, and cannot detect anything beneath the Balmera’s shell. We _could_ make use of the biothermal sensors, but one of you would have to distribute them throughout the various mine shafts.”

“Bio… _what_?” Eva asked, sounding lost.

“The full term for it is biothermal life-indicator point technology,” Coran supplied. “Blip-tech for short! Your suits have smaller versions of them built in. It’s also how we can keep track of where you are and how you’re doing from here in the castle.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Shiro said, nodding. The question now would be who would be the one to play dropship. He knew with some certainty that Eva wouldn’t like it, given how she’d reacted to being a decoy so they could infiltrate Sendak’s ship to retrieve the Blue Lion.

Jordan still had a long way to go, both in skill and confidence when it came to piloting, and the Yellow Lion would be too noticeable for Stan to pull it off without drawing too much attention.

Like Allura had said before, this was their first big mission. They would need the guidance. Which left…

“I can do it,” Koji offered. “I, uh—the thing I was working on was a cloaking modification for the Green Lion. I based it on the maze’s.”

“Figures you’d find a way to turn that around,” Stan commented, grinning. It faltered when Koji looked away, tensing as he did.

Shiro tore his gaze away from them and back to the display of the Balmera. “Alright then. Is everyone ready?” Four assenting responses were given, and they each went to the respective lift, though Koji hesitated at the Green Lion’s. Remembering the last time he’d used it, Shiro suggested, “Try putting one arm up over the bar. That should help.”

Koji blinked once, twice, before trying to smile. “Thanks. I’ll—I’ll try that,” he got out, before vanishing through the doorway.

To the side, Shiro saw Coran’s brow furrow slightly before giving him a questioning look, to which Shiro could only shrug at. They’d have to wait for him to want to talk about it, too.

“Remember, the Balmera is a living creature,” he stated once the seat was pulled into place in Black’s cockpit, and the displays had come up. Ahead, the lights lining the edges of the launch tunnel came on. “Target the mining operations, and nothing else.”

 _“Yes sir!”_ Jordan replied, a little louder than necessary, while Eva said _“I think that part was a little obvious.”_

Moments later the Black Lion rocketed forwards, she and her companions diving through the clouds. Before they could break through the last layer, the Green Lion shimmered before vanishing, leaving barely a ripple in the air.

The Red and Blue Lions immediately banked off to one side. While Red drew the fire of a trio of watch-towers with a flyby, Blue shot multiple laser rounds at them, leaving them smoking.

Black highlighted a large structure off to one side, with streams of electricity arcing from what looked like a much-larger version of a battlecruiser’s generator. _“That thing looks important,”_ Stan noted.

“All the more reason to take it out,” Shiro agreed. _But how?_

The response came from his Lion instantly, in the form of a monitor appearing over the left console. “Jaw-blade?” he mused, and Black elaborated with a few impressions. “Let’s try it.”

* * *

The series of explosions that lined both sides of the generator building were pretty satisfying to see, in Jordan’s opinion. So were the many buildings that were now blown to pieces, courtesy of him and Eva.

What _wasn’t_ satisfying was how fast it was followed by a plethora of fighters practically exploding out of one of the mine shafts.

Blue rolled off to the side for what felt like the hundredth time now, Jordan repeatedly hitting the trigger and causing a few more fighters to go up in fireballs, and he braced himself against the console when Blue took a hit to the back.

He was under the assumption that he was settling into the whole Lion-Paladin bond thing Allura and Coran had both been talking about, because Jordan could practically feel every single hit Blue was taking like it was _him_ being hit.

 _“I’d say we got this one pretty smashed-up. Should we hit the next one?”_ Eva said after managing to have the trio of fighters that had been tailing the Red Lion crash into the one remaining watch-tower.

They both winced when it slammed into the Balmera’s surface—it wasn’t the first time that had happened, and it probably wouldn’t be the last at this rate. _The sooner we get these assholes off of it, the better-off everyone else here will be._

 _“Sounds good,”_ Shiro approved. _“You two hit the one to the west. Stan and I will take the one to the north.”_

“And that sounds good to me,” Jordan replied with a smirk, Blue turning to race towards the next encampment in the distance, Red following. “Whoever takes out the most towers wins…oh boy.” His voice dropped into a nervous mutter, gulping at the end—there were too many red dots on the viewscreen to make any sense of, but the fact that it looked like a literal wall meant it was _a lot_. “On second thought, let’s take care of the tin-cans first!”

Blue’s tail arced up over her head, Red doing the same, both picking off fighters one-by-one, before having to duck down and fly underneath the swarm before coming back up and turning around to repeat the action.

A small twinge of uncertainty that definitely hadn’t been his or Blue’s briefly flickered in Jordan’s head, prompting him to add, “Hey, at least these are just robots.”

 _“Y-Yeah,”_ was the short response from Eva.

A sudden flare of alarm from Blue prompted to Jordan to look up, just in time to see a _second_ group of Galra, numbering only about seven or so, bearing down on them from above, and he shouted a warning.

The Red Lion turned, angling upwards, but it was only in time to take multiple shots to the face. Red crashed to the ground seconds later, blue-hued electricity sparking across it. “Molly!” Jordan shouted on impulse, Blue pivoting in place automatically to race towards her.

Blue had reluctantly admitted that she couldn’t fire nearly as fast as the _Arrow_ ’s turret, even though the seven topside ones had all gone up in flame pretty fast. The main swarm was zeroed in on Red, which still hadn’t budged from where it went down.

Had the impact knocked her out? Could the _Lions_ be knocked out? Jordan had no way of knowing right now. Right now, his focus was entirely on the enemy ahead. With a roar of defiance that came from both of them, he squeezed the trigger—and right as he did, he had a sudden awareness of something being _different_.

Maybe it was the way Blue purred the split-second before, or the whirring sound that echoed in the cockpit as the Lion charged up the shot, or how for a second Jordan felt like the temperature in the cockpit had plunged into the subzero range.

Blue fired, and the entire swarm froze solid in an instant.

The Red Lion came up into the air as the many chunks of ice fell to the ground, shattering on impact. _“Jordan, how did you do that?”_ Eva asked, a monitor displaying Red’s interior appearing.

“I don’t know,” he answered truthfully. “You okay?”

She nodded. _“Just got a bit shaken up.”_

Jordan nodded, glancing down at the many chunks of ice that had shattered against the Balmera’s surface, hoping it hadn’t felt those too much. Then something occurred to him. “I guess this makes us fire and ice, huh?”

Eva blinked, before grinning. _“I guess it does! Now c’mon—let’s finish up here so we can go see how Shiro and Stan are holding out!”_

* * *

The short answer to an earlier question was _yes_ ; the Lions could indeed materializing things out of seemingly nowhere, though Yellow had clarified that it was sort of how the bayards worked.

He’d denied it being Koji’s theory of molecular-level storage, though. Thinking of whom: _“All sensors delivered,”_ he reported, the Green Lion flickering back into view when it got closer to the two of them.

At the same time, the Red and Blue Lions came up from the left. _“Okay, I_ really _feel like there should’ve been more of them out here,”_ Jordan said.

 _“There’s a large hangar full of fighters just below the surface,”_ Allura clarified. _“There’s at least twice the amount than you all just fought in there.”_

 _“Why aren’t they coming up here, though?”_ Eva asked.

 _“They’re luring us down,”_ was Shiro’s brief response. _“But we don’t have a choice here; we’re going to have to go on foot. Jordan, Eva, you go set Shay and the other Balmerans free. Stan, Koji, make sure those fighters don’t leave that hangar. I’ll look for the sentries.”_

 _“Wait, by yourself?”_ Jordan asked.

_“I’ll be fine. You all stay alert while you’re down there.”_

“Sounds good,” Stan affirmed, the Yellow Lion turning towards the nearest mine shaft. At least, he figured it was a mine shaft.

The idea that the Balmera was actually a living thing was baffling, but the fact that it was treated like it wasn’t by its current occupants did not sit right with him at all.

In a weird way, it reminded him of the time Muffin had been infested with fleas, but if what Coran had said about the Balmera’s condition right now was anything to go on, this was a _lot_ worse.

The shaft was pitch-black, with steel support beams only being visible when the Lion was a few meters away from them, visible only as lighter flashes as Yellow and Green whisked by them, before both came to a stop right before hitting the ground.

Stan looked at the map of the Balmera’s interior for a few seconds. “Any idea on how we can get to that hangar without it taking an hour? Because it’ll take an hour if we have to walk there.”

 _“You could make use of the speeders your Lions have,”_ Coran suggested.

 _“The_ what _?”_

 _“You know, the vehicles that you take to get to the Lions’ hangars from the bridge?”_ He sounded almost puzzled in clarifying that.

…well, that really should’ve been obvious. The controls for the speeder looked a lot like that of a vehicle on Earth, so Stan had a general idea of how it worked. Like its name suggested, it moved pretty fast—they reached near where the hangar was in minutes.

“I thought there would be a few more guards here,” Koji muttered, looking around at the space below the ledge they were on. “I only see nine of them.”

Stan gave a neutral sound in response, looking sideways at him. “Hey Koji?” Koji started a little, glancing back at him. “Seriously, I’m not mad about you slipping the engine-oil thing.”

He didn’t reply, looking away again after a few seconds, before asking “Think we could shut the hangar doors from the control room over there?” while pointing at the metal structure set into the opposing wall.

“Probably, but…” Stan trailed off when Koji started across one of the steel beams crossing the gap, eyes narrowing a little. _Okay then…_

Stan reached the end of the beam in time to see the flicker of the green bayard vanishing, and what lighting there was let him see the thin mostly-circular line cut into the steel.

Without a word, he stepped over and jumped onto the circle, which fell right through into the control room.

The metallic crunching sound that coincided with him hitting the floor signaled that there had been one very unlucky sentry in that spot. They seemed surprisingly flimsy.

“I’ll watch the door,” Stan offered. No response came from Koji this time either, and he frowned a little before asking, “Is this about the thing with the maze?”

Koji paused, before shaking his head a bit. “I’d rather try to get this over with as soon as possible right now,” he said, the words clipped.

“Alright,” Stan muttered after a few seconds of looking sideways at him while he was looking over the red holoscreen. It was all in Galran, but there was one rectangular part in the center that looked like it was for a handprint. Unfortunately, it didn’t react to either of them.

 _Maybe it’ll work for this thing?_ After moving the circular piece of metal off of the robot with some effort, he dragged its arm up to the screen. Sure enough, something like an alarm began sounding faintly through the walls, coinciding with the hangar doors set into the top of the cavern sliding shut.

“Hangar’s taken care of,” Stan reported. “And just a heads-up—if you find any locked doors, find a piece of a robot. They won’t open otherwise.”

 _“Thanks for the tip,”_ Jordan replied after a few seconds.

 _“Make sure that console’s destroyed,”_ Shiro advised. _“We don’t need them opening the hangar again.”_

“Got it.” It was easy enough to open the panel beneath the screen and tear a few wires out. As they were leaving the room, a loud crackling sound from behind him had Stan stop to look over his shoulder; the cause of the sound had been the scanner next to the door getting an electrified dagger stuck in it, though the detail of Koji having the bayard in his _right_ hand brought something else to mind—he might’ve been ambidextrous, but Koji tended to use his left hand for most things.

“So Eva said something about you having a burn earlier?” he started while they were walking.

Koji stuttered a little. “Well, uh, yeah. It’s—it’s not a bad one, though.”

“How’d you get it, though?”

“I-It was just…me not really thinking something through.”

“Which was?” Stan pressed.

That apparently crossed some unseen line, because it only got him to snap “Could you just drop it for now?” before walking a little faster. For a few seconds Stan stood there, startled, before following Koji again at a slower pace. _Is this about the maze?_

At the same time, maybe it was just the stress of the situation. Knowing that they could come face-to-face with some hostile, armed robots any second was a pretty scary thought.

Maybe he could try asking again later, after this was all done with.

* * *

In a way, the speeder was a lot like her rocket-seat when it came to both functions and controls. The similarity to an Earth vehicle’s might’ve been how/why Jordan wasn’t having any trouble with it, too. _“Hold on a second,”_ he said suddenly, the blue speeder stopping right before the tunnel opened up into a clearing.

She hit the brakes too. “Jordan, what’s wrong?” He didn’t reply, instead climbing out with his bayard in hand; he fired twice, aiming up at something above the door, and a few robot pieces fell to the ground shortly after. Jordan stared up at the ledge for a few seconds, still holding the bayard.

“Jordan?” Eva said again, going to stand next to him.

“There were only two sentries up there,” he said, looking sideways at her.

“And?”

“ _And_ there really should’ve been more!” he shot back. Eva wanted to snap back at him, but something in his tone was hitting her the wrong way right now.

“Maybe we came by at the right time?” she suggested instead.

Jordan made a noncommittal sound, muttering “I’ve still got a bad feeling about this,” while going to pick up a mostly-intact robot arm. The tunnels beyond the translucent violet door that had been on the other end of the clearing were barely lit, the only lighting coming from other, much-smaller doors.

Jordan barely paused by them, only giving each a passing glance, until there came one where he did a double-take before almost tripping over himself to open the door. The occupants’ startled/wary expressions didn’t last long.

“You’ve returned,” one noted, sounding both relieved and surprised.

“I said I would,” Jordan said shortly, before seeming to realize something. “H-Hang on, where’s—?”

“Shay is not here,” a second voice interrupted in the same tone, which brought Eva’s attention to the fourth Balmeran, who had been sitting in the back and was currently glaring at both of them. “When you began your attack, the Galra imprisoned us and took her to Balmera’s core,” he snapped combatively. “You have brought nothing but trouble to our family!”

“Hey, we came here to _rescue_ you guys!” Eva retorted. Jordan being moody, she could put up with. Someone she didn’t know? _No thanks_.

If she had to guess, this was Shay’s brother; whatever he said after that was ignored in favor of Allura’s voice coming over the comm. _“Paladins, it looks like the Galra are all moving down the tunnels, toward the center of the Balmera.”_

If that wasn’t a coincidence, Eva wasn’t sure what was. “That’s a trap,” Jordan said immediately.

 _“You took the words right out of my mouth,”_ Shiro agreed. _“Stan, Koji, how much of that did you hear?”_

 _“Enough of it,”_ was Stan’s reply. _“But shouldn’t one or two of us stay back just in case?”_

Shiro exhaled quietly over the comm. _“You have a point…Eva, go back to the Red Lion.”_

“What?!” she protested. “But I can help!”

 _“You can help by keeping an eye out for any reinforcements,”_ Shiro returned calmly. _“You need more practice with your bayard before you’d be able to use it properly in a fight.”_

“Ugh, fine,” she muttered. He had a point—even when she’d practiced with it for a little earlier with Jordan, every shot had been way off. Louder, she added, “You guys be careful.”

“Back at’cha partner,” Jordan replied, turning to head further down into the Balmera, whereas Eva started back up. She’d just made it back to the speeder when the ground under her feet lurched; she’d barely managed to catch herself on the vehicle.

“What was that?” she asked after it had passed, hearing the last echoes of…something. She wasn’t sure what exactly the sound had been, but whatever it had come from seemed like it was in pain.

 _“That would be the Balmera itself,”_ Coran replied, tone grim. _“Its condition is very unstable at the moment, so you’d all best watch yourselves down there.”_

Eva hissed out a breath before vaulting herself into the vehicle. The Balmera—of _course_ it had been the Balmera. What else would it have been?

No wonder Jordan had seemed almost desperate to get back here.

Red was standing and waiting with his shield down when she reached the shaft he and the Blue Lion were hunkered down in, bringing the speeder back up into its place in the cargo bay with barely a pause. No sooner were they up and out of the mine shaft did the Lion jolt when something hit his back.

Eva hissed out a breath, eyes widening when she saw the new horde of fighters that were taking up most of the sky above. “Where did all of these come from?”

 _“I’m not sure, but we’re taking heavy fire up here!”_ was Allura’s response.

“Okay, just—just hang on!” She shoved both handles forward, and Red arced upwards toward the swarm. Several of the fighters broke away in response, heading right back toward them, forcing her to bank to the side to avoid taking shots to the face again.

The rounds instead hit the surface of the Balmera, and she suppressed a flinch before shaking her head a little, remembering what Jordan had said earlier. _C’mon Eva, they’re just a bunch of robots,_ she told herself, before having Red return fire.

All four fighters went up in fireballs that she refused to look at for longer than two seconds.

From what bits and pieces she’d managed to make sense of from Coran’s explanations, the castle’s defense systems didn’t work in a conventional way, in that the barrier was also the weapon. It could fire in any direction—so long as the shield stayed up to begin with.

She wasn’t in there to see how it was holding up, but she was pretty sure that taking fire from all sides meant that it wouldn’t last very long. _But how’re we supposed to get rid of all of those things?_

Red’s presence sharpened with a growl, and a screen appeared over the main dashboard. She bit her lip when she realized what the Lion was suggesting, before glancing further up at the viewscreens. “They’re just some dumb robots,” she told herself again quietly. _It’s not like they’ll feel anything._

Red fired, and a wide swath of the horde was reduced to molten metal.

 _“Good shot Number Five!”_ Coran praised.

“Thanks,” she muttered, fumbling a bit with the keypad before asking “Did you guys find Shay?”

 _“We did, but there’s a problem with that,”_ Stan replied tersely. _“We’re kind of stuck down here.”_

“Well, find a way to get _un_ stuck! It’s getting crazy up here ag— _aah_!” Eva broke off with a startled exclamation when a sharp-sounding alarm started going off from somewhere in the cockpit, coinciding with Red seeming tense all of a sudden.

She blinked, and almost missed the blur of motion that preceded a space in the horde of fighters suddenly being filled by a battlecruiser, with Red’s displays showing that an _alarming_ amount of its weapons were already warming up, the oversized cannon included.

“Um. Quiznak?” Her voice sounded a little more high-pitched that she would’ve liked.

 _“Quiznak,”_ both Allura and Coran agreed grimly.

* * *

“Eva? Eva, what’s going on up there?” Shiro asked, tone sharpening with anxiety. The fact that this was probably the first time any of them heard Eva curse out loud was a good indicator on what might be going on up on the surface.

It was Allura who replied instead: _“Paladins, we need you all up here as soon as possible. There’s a battlecruiser locked onto us, and the castle’s particle barrier won’t hold out against its ion cannon for very long.”_

If _that_ just wasn’t the icing on the cake, Koji wasn’t sure what was.

To the side, Jordan was standing very still, jaw clenched tightly—once they’d gotten her down from where she’d been tied up and the gag off of her, Shay had told them that the Galra had known they were coming

The only other people that even knew they were _going_ this way had been Rolo and Nyma. It took _a lot_ for Koji to actively dislike someone, but by that point his opinion of those two was pretty firmly in the negative numbers.

Stan was pacing by one of the might-be-natural stairways, whereas Shay was…well, Koji wasn’t exactly sure what she was doing. Supposedly Balmerans could send messages to each other through the Balmera itself, though how _that_ worked wasn’t something that—

He was jolted out of his thoughts when there was a metallic crunching sound behind them, and a plume of dust from where one of the sealed doors _had been_ cleared to show four other Balmerans.

“Rax?” Shay sounded both relieved and incredulous, and Jordan sputtered a bit, eyes widening.

“You must make haste,” one of them, presumably Rax, said in response. “There are shortcuts through these tunnels that we know of.”

The term _shortcut_ seemed like an understatement; one of the other Balmerans led both him and Stan through a gap in the walls that Koji hadn’t noticed on the way down there, which opened up into a passage that twisted and turned up until it led right back out to the ledge overlooking the now-closed hangar. Green lowered her shield the moment she saw him coming, itching to get up and moving.

Their focus was on the battlecruiser the moment it came into view—it didn’t look as fancy as Sendak’s had, but it had the same gigantic cannon set on the bow of it, which _definitely_ looked like it was getting ready to fire.

An arc of red light swept around in a wide arc, followed by a series of smaller explosions. The source was recognized as the same weapon the Red Lion had used on that monster back on Arus. Further off to the side was a flash of blue; the fighters struck by that beam were frozen solid immediately, the chunks of ice being shattered by the Black and Yellow Lions before they could hit the Balmera’s surface.

A violet flare above had them look up—the castleship’s shields had all been diverted to the front of the ship, but they definitely wouldn’t last for long against the cannon.

 _“Guys, I have an idea!”_ Shiro shouted. _“Follow my lead!”_

Black rocketed upwards, and they followed with the other three, bracing themselves against the bottom of the front half of the hull, engines blasting at full power. Slowly but surely, the trajectory of the cannon was moved up and away from the castle, and moments after it was, the princess shouted a warning to get out of the way of…of what?

Koji managed to slow Green’s descent a little, and she turned her head to look back so he could see—but he had to shut his eyes against the blinding light that emanated from a singular, narrow beam that streaked across the sky. For a few seconds, it gained a reddish hue toward one side.

Then both the sound and the shockwave hit, sending Green reeling, though she angled herself so that she wouldn’t be knocked out of the air by it. The smoke was already clearing when Koji managed to pry his eyes open, and the sky was now otherwise clear.

Over the comm, someone whistled appreciatively (Jordan) while someone else (Shiro?) sighed a little, relieved. There was a stilted comment of _“Nice shot, Allura,”_ from Stan.

It _was_ a good shot, even if Koji had only been able to see it for a second, and only had a general idea on where the battlecruiser had been hit. From that split-second glance, it looked like it would’ve been close to the generators. Maybe an engine or two, for it to have gone up in a fireball of that size like that.

He swallowed hard, feeling lightheaded suddenly. There wasn’t even any _debris_ left by the look of it, and the remaining fighters had been obliterated by the explosion.

That battlecruiser had been just like the one Sendak had on Arus, save for looking a little plainer, but there had been something left of Sendak’s after they’d dealt with it.

And two people had walked away from that one.

* * *

“How’s everyone doing?” Shiro asked; though he hadn’t seen the Blue and Yellow Lions, both Red and Green had been sent spinning by the force of the battlecruiser’s explosion.

 _“I’m alright,”_ Jordan responded, a quieter affirmative coming from Stan.

“Eva, Koji, what about you?”

 _“Um, y-yeah,”_ was the stuttered response from Eva. _“I’m—I’m okay.”_

There was a pause, and Shiro frowned. “Koji?”

_“I’m fine.”_

_“You sure?”_ Jordan asked hesitantly. _“You sound kinda out of it.”_

 _“_ I’m fine _,”_ he repeated insistently.

He didn’t _sound_ fine. Shiro could hear it in his voice.

A sharp growl from Black yanked his attention back to their surroundings, specifically what _looked_ like a meteor, right as Coran warned _“Something just entered the atmosphere! A-And it has a Galran signature!”_

 _“It’s gonna hit the Balmera! We have to—”_ Jordan wasn’t able to finish, the object slamming into the Balmera’s surface too fast for any of them to react. It kicked up a wave of dust and sent pulverized fragments of the surface in all directions. Shiro could have sworn he heard a deep, pained sound that seemed to come from the ground below them.

When the dust cleared, a familiar metal structure was seen standing upright on the surface, and there was a low, exasperated groan from Eva. _“Not another one of those things!”_

 _“Wait, what is that?”_ Stan asked.

“It’s the container that the monster from Arus came in,” Shiro replied. “Everyone, just stay calm. If it’s the same as the last one, we know how to deal with it.”

Steam hissed out of the vents set into the top of the oversized case, before each side of it fell to the ground. Jordan cursed before saying _“That does_ not _look like the first one.”_

It really didn’t—bipedal and humanoid, it looked almost reptilian in some aspects. It was primarily red in color, with arms nearly the length of its body.

“Then we’ll just have to— _look out_!” Black leaped to one side and Blue to the other, both narrowly evading the electric-green laser that shot from the port in the robotic creature’s chest. The Yellow Lion wasn’t as lucky, being sent flying back a few miles. “New plan: evasive maneuvers! It can’t hit all of us at the same time!”

Roughly ten seconds later, Shiro had to eat his words when there were suddenly _multiple_ beams arcing through the sky. _“You were saying?”_ Eva asked.

“Okay, so it _can_ hit us all at once,” he admitted, rethinking it quickly while bringing the Black Lion around. “Stan, try drawing its fire—I’m coming in from above!”

 _“Just try to be quick about it,”_ was the grunted response. _“I_ really _don’t want to get hit by that thing again!”_

Black angled herself into a nosedive, but she could only dive down for a few seconds before Shiro had to have her roll to one side to avoid a laser.

 _“I don’t think this thing has a blind spot,”_ Koji warned. _“I think those lasers might also be its eyes.”_

 _“What, so it has a hundred eyes?”_ The Red Lion somersaulted in the air above to avoid two laser beams while its pilot spoke. _“What’re we supposed to do then?!”_

 _“We’ll draw its fire from up here,”_ Allura replied, the castleship moving into position above the creature, raining fire from above—which did get the monster’s attention, it returning fire in full.

 _“Spectral generator’s gone!”_ Coran was heard reporting. _“A-And there’s a fire in VIN bay three; suppressors are on! Wait, suppressors are out!”_ His voice gradually grew more panicked as he went on, ending with _“Princess, the ship is being torn apart!”_

“Allura, fall back,” Shiro ordered. “The castle’s defenses already took a beating earlier, and you know that as well as I do.”

 _“We will_ not _abandon you,”_ she shot back.

“You’re not abandoning us, we were just about to fall back.”

 _“What do you mean, we’re falling back?”_ Jordan protested. _“We can’t just—”_

“We can’t fight this thing without a plan,” Shiro interrupted. The cadet paled a little over the video feed that had appeared right before he’d spoken, though he nodded in understanding after the Blue Lion had to weave out of the way of a few more lasers. “Everyone to the mine shafts—it’s the only place where we’ll be safe!”

Black twisted mid-air, diving into the nearest one, with the Red and Blue Lions close behind. Once on the ground, Shiro stepped out and was faced with the Balmerans from earlier. “What is happening?” Rax asked in a low, fearful tone.

“Uh, just a…a giant multi-eyed lizard thing trying to kill us,” Jordan summed up. “B-But we’re gonna beat that thing so fast it won’t know what hit it in the first place,” he added at seeing their expressions.

 _“_ Can _we do that, though?”_ Stan sounded uncertain.

“Yes, we can,” Shiro reassured. “We just need time to come up with a strategy.”

Unfortunately, it seemed as though the universe was set against them—the ground bucked underfoot again, more violently than the last time, and he heard the same sound from when the robotic monster first crashed onto the Balmera. _“And can someone tell me what that even was?”_

“The Balmera,” Shay clarified, voice wavering. “Her life is coming to an end, even as we speak.”

Jordan blanched. “H-hold on. You’re not saying—?”

 _“The Balmera is dying,”_ Coran confirmed grimly. _“Those quakes you’re all feeling are it beginning to collapse in on itself. There’s only a matter of time before it implodes entirely.”_

“ _What_?” Eva’s face was as pale as Jordan’s. “But I don’t— _how_ is it…?”

 _“The Galra have taken too many crystals in too short of a time,”_ Allura explained quietly. _“It wasn’t given the time needed for it to heal itself properly after each crystal was taken, and it no longer has the capability to do so.”_

“Wh-What can we do?” Jordan stammered a bit. “I mean—there’s gotta be _something_ we can do, right?!”

_“Evacuating the Balmera is the only option we have now.”_

“How long do we have before it collapses?” Shiro asked, feeling ill. Their first mission wasn’t going nearly as well as he’d hoped it would.

 _“Two vargas at the most.”_ Coran paused. _“Probably less than that. Our scanners are showing that the life is draining from it quickly.”_

 _“So what’re we going to do, bring up small groups five at a time?”_ Stan asked.

_“That would take too long. Perhaps if we could get the castle down to the surface…”_

_“You’d get blown to pieces by the giant lizard up there.”_

“Not if we distract it,” Shiro countered.

“Huh?” Both Eva and Jordan fixed him with an incredulous look; it was the former that had spoken. “But how are we going to do that?”

“Provoke, evade, and lead it away from where the castle touches down.”

 _“It…sounds like it might work,”_ Koji agreed hesitantly.

 _“It sounds insane,”_ Stan muttered in the background.

“It’s better than sitting here and doing nothing,” Jordan said morosely, before turning to look at the two Balmerans, coughing forcibly. “Uh—I know this sounds really bad, but…is there any way you could let the other Balmerans here know about this?”

“I can,” Shay affirmed. “But I know not what they will say.”

Shiro dimly heard Allura saying something to Coran, before he heard very clearly _“I’m coming down.”_

* * *

Jordan was only really halfway comprehending the ongoing conversation, because his brain kept repeating Coran’s words over and over again.

_The Balmera is dying._

That one little statement had left him feeling like he’d been dunked in ice water after having the floor ripped out from under him, when it had no right to. Then again, maybe it did—the Balmera wasn’t just home to the Balmerans, but a living creature in itself.

And the Galra had all but killed it. Jordan thought he wouldn’t have been capable of hating something as much as the Crogs, but as of that moment, there was a close second in that list.

It just…wasn’t _fair_.

“Jordan!” someone snapped next to him, pulling him back to the current situation. Eva was standing in front of him now, not exactly glaring, but the glint in her eyes was close enough to one. “C’mon, we have to go distract that thing so Allura can get down here!”

“Right,” he agreed, turning to start back to Blue, who let him in immediately, her own resolve being the first thing to hit him. Robo-lizard was right by the top of the mine shaft they’d hid out in, according to the scanners. _Let’s give ugly up there a surprise._

Blue fired at the same time as Black and Red, the moment they cleared the top of the edge of the mine shaft, while the monster was distracted by Green and Yellow flying out of the one behind it.

Which led to the discovery that this one could fly. Because it had a _jetpack_ as part of its back.

 _“I think we’ve got him pretty distracted,”_ Shiro said. _“Princess, now’s your chance.”_

 _“I’ll contact you all when I’m on the ground,”_ she replied.

A _crack_ from somewhere behind them was enough to have Jordan impulsively yank the control sticks to the side, just in time to avoid the lizard thing shooting past them. The detail of it being able to move fast enough to break the sound barrier was a good one to know, if also a scary one.

It stopped abruptly, setting itself back on the ground and turning toward them. “Mo—uh, Eva, try seeing if this guy’s as fireproof as the last one!” he suggested quickly.

The Red Lion flew overhead, twisting around midair and opening its mouth to shoot. Jordan couldn’t see where it hit, but there wasn’t any reaction from the thing. _“I don’t think melting it is gonna work this time,”_ Stan noted.

 _“Obviously!”_ Eva retorted. _“Jordan, try freezing it!”_

“Uh, right!” Blue complied, turning toward it so he could fire. Robo-lizard was left with its head encased in a block of ice, though it was quickly shattered by it just firing lasers out of its eyes. Because _of course_ it could do _that_ , too—and then they were sent flying back by a shot to the face, Blue shuddering with the impact.

He thought he heard Allura say something over the comm, followed by Shiro, but a laser beam from robo-lizard just narrowly missing Blue had her bristle in his mind. _Sorry,_ he thought, scanning the viewscreens.

The _might-be-a-translation_ (a newer development; Blue had the basics of an Altean-to-Human dictionary down now) of the display screens to the side looked like something between decipherable language and alien gibberish right now to Jordan, while Blue was zig-zagging between a few of the remaining watch-towers.

Robo-lizard looked like it was more focused on the Yellow Lion right now, though at one point Green flew between it and a laser with the shield on its back taking the brunt of it; Stan yelled something, but Jordan couldn’t make out the words.

Something like a realization flickered from Blue, before she ducked into a mine shaft, just low enough to stay out of sight. “Uh, hey, what’re you doing?” he asked, starting a bit. A low purr echoed through the cockpit in response, a reminder.

Breathing, right. Breathing was important.

Then his brain registered the conversation going on over the comm, and promptly short-circuited again for a few seconds. _“If our great Balmera’s life cycle is over because of us, then our desire is to stay with her until the end,”_ he heard Shay saying over the comm from Allura’s end.

 _“But you’ll never survive,”_ Allura protested.

 _“We contacted the others, and all agree,”_ Rax was heard saying. _“It’s not right that you risk your lives for us. Please, away. We ask for no more guilt and shame upon us.”_

“Hold on just a second, y-you guys can’t just _give up_ like that!” Jordan exclaimed, mind jumping from blank to too many thoughts at once. “We can get all of you out of here, no problem!”

The castle was huge and he knew that from when he and Shiro went through it looking for Eva when they were back on Arus, there were _so many_ empty rooms they could use—

 _“We thank you for your offer,”_ Shay said quietly. _“But we cannot.”_

“But what about…” He trailed off, feeling like something in him had just caved in. He was aware of Allura saying something over the comm, but it sounded weirdly muted.

Forget being unfair, this was just absolute _bullshit_. The Balmerans hadn’t done anything to deserve this—and neither had the Balmera, for that matter.

He was vaguely aware of Allura saying something over the comm, and that his vision was blurring a bit to go along with his eyes stinging, but at that moment he was more focused on taking his anger on the situation out on robo-lizard, which seemed to have not seen him coming for that moment.

 _Big mistake_.

They practically exploded back out of the mine shaft, slamming into the creature hard and fast enough to nearly knock it over. It roared angrily in response, focusing five lasers on them at once, but their training-enforced reflex kicked in a breath’s worth of time before the impact could come, with them rolling down out of the way.

Red and Green feinted to one side, it turning to follow their movement, only for one of its eyes to swivel around to shoot at Yellow, who’d been flying in to ram it from behind.

Turn, roll, dive, pivot again, shoot, dodge, repeat.

The castleship touched down near one of the mine shafts—had Allura changed the Balmerans’ minds about leaving somehow? (Shay wanted to see the sky _at least once_ and _damn it all_ , alien or not, Jordan was going to make sure she did!)

Muted sound came over the comm from the background, and Shiro asked what was going on. Coran replied with the detail of the Balmerans being trapped, sending a jolt of panic through Jordan. _“Just keep that beast distracted!”_ the Altean finished hurriedly.

 _“You want us to distract it by dying? Because we’re gonna die if this keeps going!”_ was Stan’s sharp response, a stressed hitch in his voice.

Turn, roll, dive, pivot again, shoot, dodge, repeat. At this point Jordan’s arms were starting to feel numb.

 _“Shiro, I don’t think this is working,”_ Eva said nervously. The Red Lion briefly ducked behind one of the few remaining intact watch-towers, only to have to speed away when robo-lizard turned to fire on it. _“We…we can’t fight this thing like this!”_

Robo-lizard paused where it was about to shoot at the Green Lion, one of its two eyes on its head swiveling toward the castle, and Jordan’s blood ran cold.

Cold not entirely unlike Blue’s presence, suddenly drowning out almost everything else with the closest thing to words he’d heard from her so far.

That thing was threatening their friends, and they wouldn’t let them get hurt. They protected their own, like they always did, always have, both then and now.

It was almost unthinkingly that he brought Blue into position to the Red Lion’s right, with Black, Green, and Yellow following in order to the left. For a moment, everything seemed to have been put on pause—and then Blue was suddenly folding in on herself, and though Jordan couldn’t see them he _knew_ the other four Lions were doing the same.

It was like someone flipped a switch in his head, but he didn’t have time to really think more about it right that second because then all of robot-lizard’s lasers were being fired at them, all at once.

There was a flash of heat before they moved out of the way just in time: Red, her heart racing, always reacting on a hair-trigger to keep them out of harm’s way.

Yellow caught them before they fell, one half of their support, quickly giving them all a once-over to make sure they were okay; Green, the other half, kept his focus on the threat, analyzing and cataloging things he thought might be useful to know—and useful they were, its eyes were probably its weakest points.

A whisper of a breeze kept them steady, holding them all together—Black, understanding flooding from him, right as there was a wordless shout of jubilation from someone else, somewhere over the comm—

And then it clicked: Voltron was the five Lions combined. _Literally_.

Roughly a million questions were going through Jordan’s head at that realization, along with the little-kid part of him just completely _freaking out_ right now, but a prickle ( _focus_ ) from Black (Shiro) brought him back to the present.

Protect the castle, Allura, Coran, and the Balmerans from robo-lizard, while they…did _something_.

Jordan was one-hundred percent sure that Blue—she was the right leg, suddenly the Lions’ size differences made more sense—was facing an angle that wouldn’t have let him see where they were, but he had a pretty clear image of the Balmera’s surface right beneath the castle shining a faint cyan.

It was about as clear as the abrupt superimposed image of another Lion’s cockpit, Yellow’s, with one of the consoles having lifted to reveal a distinctly bayard-shaped port.

_Put the bayard there?_

_Worth a try!_

The point of the mind-melding thing Coran had them all try suddenly made an _astounding_ amount of sense to Jordan.

The bayard connecting with whatever computer-thing the Yellow Lion had sent a sensation not unlike a physical jolt up his spine, the energy from the contact coalescing into a cannon perched on Voltron’s shoulder.

There was something trippy about seeing in two directions at once. The good news was that it let him see very clearly that robo-lizard could use all of its eye-lasers to charge up one very big shot, which was met with an equally-big shot.

There was something even trippier about _feeling_ multiple different things, including his own sensory inputs. Koji shivered, and it carried over to the rest of them— _not enough firepower_ , they were going to get blasted if they didn’t move. With some effort, robo-lizard’s laser was deflected to the side.

It just barely missed the castle, prompting Shiro and Eva to take the lead, bringing them airborne and away. Blue purred—or was it Yellow?!—as the target reticle expanded into a screen, highlighting robo-lizard’s many eyes.

 _Shoot all of them at once._ They could do that with the energy cannon that the yellow bayard had provided.

And it was a beautiful shot, too, knocking the monster down and causing violet sparks to arc across it. Jordan couldn’t help but laugh a bit, Stan echoing it with a cheer of his own.

A mixed curiosity and amazement flowed through the link from Eva— _look at that_ —and they turned toward the castle just in time to see a blaze of light shoot outward across the surface.

Though Jordan didn’t know for certain what it was, he had an inkling that Allura had something to do with it. Or maybe it was that one of the others _knew_ that Allura had something to do with it.

Then robo-lizard moved to stand up again, its chest-laser shining with a charge. “Seriously?” Jordan muttered to himself, hands twitching a bit in irritation. “That thing just doesn’t know when to quit!” He’d be more than happy to just blast it to pieces with that cannon again, but Blue had a suggestion that was equally appealing. If just a little more.

And she was right. There was something very, _very_ satisfying in kicking that thing smack in the middle of its chest, sending it flying clear over one of the mine shafts in the process.

There was something not unlike a shudder before the Lions split apart again, a momentary sense of loss panging through him, but at the same time it was a relief—everything went into hyperfocus for a split-second before returning to normal human sensory input levels.

Outside, the five of them stared at each other for a few long seconds, until Eva broke the silence with a breathy “That was so cool.”

“And a little freaky,” Stan added, chuckling a little. “I just wanna know _how_ we did that.”

“Not even King Alfor could figure it out, and he’s the one who built the Lions,” Coran remarked, mustache almost hiding his grin as he jogged over to them.

Shiro looked past the adviser, eyes narrowing a little in worry, before asking “How’s Allura?”

Coran followed his gaze—Allura had slumped to the ground, and was currently being held by Shay, who beamed at them; she was up on the surface like she’d always wanted. Jordan managed a small smile back, giving a thumbs-up. “She’ll need a lot of rest, but she’ll be alright.”

“What was that, anyways?” Koji asked. “With the light, I mean.”

“Ah yes! In the past, whenever a crystal was harvested from a Balmera, an Altean with the necessary skill would reinfuse the Balmera with an equal amount of quintessence taken. We had a symbiotic relationship with them, almost. Granted, this was on a much larger—”

Coran broke off when the ground shuddered under them, by means of robo-lizard _somehow_ starting to get back up. (He had not realized just how _huge_ that thing was until right this second.) But before Jordan could even think about turning to bolt back to the Blue Lion, the ground shook again—but this time it wasn’t from an impact or anything like that.

Threads of blue crystal just like the one on the castle’s bridge were creeping up robo-lizard, forming in jagged spikes out of the surface of the Balmera around its feet, in clusters from where its arms were connected to its body, and even out of the laser set in its chest.

Not even a minute after, it was completely encased in a massive crystal, its last action being a furious snarl.

It was dead-silent again, this time for at least a minute, being broken by Stan whistling quietly, and Koji saying “Well that was…something.”

“I thought stuff like that could only happen in sci-fi movies,” Shiro commented, blinking up at the crystal, before looking back at them. “What?” he asked, frowning a little at the incredulous looks he was getting.

Jordan would’ve expected Stan or Koji to say that, but _Shiro_?

Blue purred amusedly in the background.

* * *

It was decided that they’d stay on the Balmera for the night, to let everyone rest up a little, though Eva had a feeling that the real reason for it was that Allura had been drifting in and out of consciousness for the past hour or so according to Coran, who often went back up into the castle to check on her.

The rest of them were kept busy—Shiro and Jordan had gone straight to hunting down the last of the sentries down in the tunnels, while Stan, Koji, and Eva herself set to re-securing many of the ladders in the shafts that had fallen during all the ground-shaking earlier.

Five lion-shaped robots put together apparently made one big person-shaped robot, AKA Voltron.

That had been…something else. Eva couldn’t remember too much of it herself, aside from Red being the right arm, but that was how Jordan had described it. _Something else_.

Monster #2 being trapped in a gigantic crystal by the Balmera was something else. So was the fact that the formerly-barren surface was now absolutely covered in countless smaller blue crystals.

Both Stan and Koji had been poking at one of them, until one of the older Balmerans had coaxed them over to the nearest gathering; a few firepits had been set up here and there once the sun had set, which Eva was thankful for, considering that the temperature had dropped really fast.

Lighting _hadn’t_ been too much of a problem, given that the steadily-growing crystals cast off a bluish glow that gave the whole surface of the Balmera an unearthly look to it.

It was nothing compared to the light from earlier, though. That had been right up there with the first time she’d seen the Avatar.

Dinner was some kind of soup. Jordan mentioned it being the same thing that Shay’s grandmother had made when he and Coran had first come to the Balmera to get the castle’s new crystal, and if it was an alien food he didn’t turn his nose up at, that meant it was edible.

Stan, Koji, and Coran all hadn’t had a complaint either.

Shiro was half-inhaling his, but considering he didn’t make a face at the synthetics, she wasn’t going to be using him as a guinea-pig in terms of new food anytime soon.

The Lions were still where they’d been set down by the castle, though they hadn’t bothered with putting their shields up like they had earlier. A few younger Balmerans occasionally darted up to one of them, touching them briefly, the metal under their hands shimmering before they darted away again, and the older ones would duck their heads respectfully when walking by.

It almost mirrored what all five of them had been getting; Shiro would nod back politely, Jordan muttering something indistinctly under his breath, and she could’ve sworn she saw Stan _blush_ a little at one point. Eva herself had been approached twice so far, both of which she at least managed to smile in response at.

Koji had been left alone so far, but he looked pretty out of it right now, only poking halfheartedly at the food. At least, up until one of the various kids around ran up and pressed a bracelet with a few glossy green beads tied to it into his hand, saying something too quickly and quietly for Eva to hear clearly before running away again. Koji stuttered a little, mumbling a puzzled “Thanks?” a few seconds after the kid had already gone.

Shiro paused in eating to give him a half-lidded look of concern, before asking something—or at least, Eva assumed he was asking something judging on his tone, since she couldn’t understand what he’d said. Koji’s response was equally indecipherable, and Stan had rolled his eyes in an exasperated way, suggesting he was used to things like that happening.

Jordan leaned sideways a little from where he was sitting next to Eva, frowning slightly before saying in almost a whisper, “I don’t think he’s slept too much recently,” while subtly gesturing to their technician.

She nodded in silent agreement. While he’d perked up a little earlier, Koji looked like he was halfway asleep already, though he periodically shook himself back into awareness.

Shiro and Stan both glanced up a little, right before Eva heard the footsteps from behind her and Jordan, and recognized one of them as Rax. He tensed, clearing his throat before saying, “I owe you an apology. All of you. I—” He paused, took a deep breath, and then the next words came out in a rush. “The Galra have ruled us for so long I feared they could never be defeated. I acted against you, so that we would avoid punishment. Had I been successful…”

He seemed to waver a little, catching himself at the last second. “My fear would have cost our Balmera her life, and the lives of my family.”

Something twitched unpleasantly in the back of Eva’s head at the last word, and she had to nail her focus onto the ongoing conversation.

Jordan blinked owlishly. “I think I know what you mean,” he said awkwardly, scratching at the back of his head with one hand. “I mean, I’ve done a couple of things that…well…things like that.” He’d glanced sideways at Eva for a second while he was talking, and her eyes narrowed a little—what did he mean by that?

Rax’s attention drifted to the side. “I wish to speak with the Blue Lion, if you would allow it.”

“…sure, but uh, I think it’s more up to her than me.” A quick pause. “Why, though?”

The Balmeran stopped mid-step, replying with “For advice,” before continuing toward the Lions. _Advice on what?_

“He means well,” the second Balmeran said quietly once he was out of earshot. “He simply has a unique way of showing it.”

It occurred to Eva that this must be Shay—AKA the Balmeran that had done the impossible and gotten Jordan to open up a bit to someone that wasn’t human in the shortest time on record. “Sounds kind of like Jordan here,” she remarked, which earned a bout of indignant sputtering from him.

“You know she has a point there,” Stan commented, looking like he was trying very hard to not grin. Jordan gave him a deadpan look in response, after which he turned his attention back to the soup. Stan did the same, stopping to give it a questioning look, before asking, “So, uh, what’s in this, anyways?”

“It’s grandma’s special dish, for special visitors,” Shay replied brightly. “Cave-root for the skin, cave-bugs for the soul.”

There were three near-synchronized choking sounds, and Koji abruptly put the bowl he was holding down. “Thank you for the, uh…bugs,” Coran got out, smiling thinly. Jordan mirrored the action, though his looked more forced than anything.

Stan shrugged after a few seconds, muttering “I’ve had weirder,” and Shiro nodded in silent agreement.

Though Eva was pretty sure she’d just lost her appetite altogether, the soup had still tasted better than the food at her boarding school.

That didn’t mean she was going to be touching it again anytime soon, though.

Rax returned then, decidedly changing the subject, and Jordan looked almost thankful. “So, uh—” He coughed a bit, before cautiously inquiring “What’d she say?”

Shay’s brother opened his mouth to reply, closed it again, and then replied, “She put a thought to rest.”

“Well, that’s good,” Eva said lightly. “Um…right?”

In the mixed lighting, Rax looked almost pale. “I know now why Zarkon fears you and your Voltron so.” There was something in his tone bordering on respect, but Eva had a nagging feeling that _respect_ wasn’t the right word for it. “She spoke with but a fraction of herself, but her presence makes even our Balmera seem small in comparison.”

He excused himself quietly before stepping away almost like he was in a hurry. It was Shay’s turn to look uncertain, hesitating before doing the same and going after him.

Shiro shot Coran a look that practically radiated a question, but only got a small shrug in response. Jordan had an expression on his face that was some bizarre cross of confusion, pride, and embarrassment.

There was a momentary exchanged look of confusion between Stan and Koji that was obviously out of habit by itself, given that Koji looked away again just as fast. Stan seemed to wilt a little at seeing that.

Those two fighting a few days earlier had been uncomfortable to watch, but this was almost painful. If she hadn’t known any better, she would’ve thought that Koji seemed _afraid_.

She exhaled sharply, feeling irritated all of a sudden, and muttered a half-planned excuse before getting up to walk over to one of the many small bluffs. Eva had seen plenty of people get into silent arguments like the one the team’s mechanics seemed to be having right now, which was why she didn’t know why _this_ occasion in particular was so frustrating to watch.

She hadn’t realized she’d been followed until she happened to glance sideways just enough to see Coran there. “You seem a bit troubled,” he noted.

“It’s nothing really,” she tried deflecting— _tried_ being the key word, because he just raised one eyebrow a bit. Red seemed amused, giving an indication that lying wouldn’t get her anywhere here. “I’m just…trying to figure something out.”

“Well, maybe I can help.”

She bit her lip a little for a second, noting that now Red was giving her the mental equivalent of a pointed look, but before she could even think of a response, one of the two people concerned came up the slope. Stan hesitated for a second, before asking “Think we’d be able to bring two of these crystals with us? ‘bout this big?” He held his hands a space roughly five inches apart, before adding “I have an idea.”

“Two that small shouldn’t be too much of a problem,” Coran replied after seeming to think it over. “What are you going to do with them?”

“Something,” was the vague response.

Coran shrugged a little after a few seconds. “Just go wait by them if you know where they are. I’ll be there in a few ticks.”

“Great, thanks!” Stan turned, pausing when the Green Lion banked up toward its hangar, before starting down towards a small crevice in the ground a few meters away.

When she was sure he was out of earshot, Eva asked, “Should one of us let him know about the bomb-drone?”

In response, Coran held his arms behind his back, looking up at the sky. “That _is_ a tricky one,” he admitted. “In my experience, the best thing to do would be to let them sort it out themselves, hard as it may be to watch in the meantime.” She almost didn’t hear the “And hope for the best,” at the end, almost missing the momentary distant look on his face.

Red was once again alert in the back of her head as well, with a touch of a frigid, deep-seated remorse, though it was replaced with a reassuring purr the moment he realized she was focusing on that.

So the answer to the question was _no_ , and if anything, she was even more uncertain about all of this now.

Eva also now had a nagging feeling that there was more to all of this then they were being told. _It’s like the Great Race all over again. Except…a lot more dangerous._

A sudden shadow passing over her made her flinch, and she looked up to see a dark shape—which quickly veered away, its two wings being seen to have actually been four, and its body more snakelike than birdlike. “Ah, that was a draekrit!” Coran exclaimed. “One of the most common things to see in this quadrant!” He paused, having noticing her startle, before adding “Don’t worry, they’re harmless. Though they’re notorious for decimating food stores…I’ll probably have to double-check the castle before we leave…” he trailed off in a mutter, starting to turn back to the castleship.

Eva shook her head. There was no way for that _thing_ to be here. It was Red’s turn to tense, a wordless query coming from him.

 _It—it’s nothing,_ she thought, starting after Coran. _I’m just…tired. Just tired._

* * *

Stan had known it was coming, but it had still caught him off-guard when the adrenaline from the long day’s events finally crashed. And it crashed _hard_ , too.

He’d barely managed to peel off the armored parts of the flight-suit, drop the dark-colored fabric part of it into the laundry chute, and change into something more comfortable before everything had become a blur. He was pretty sure the only reason he’d made it to the bed was because Yellow had stepped in somehow.

That still didn’t stop him from jolting awake (he’d been a light sleeper ever since it had been a necessity) when the door opened, the one responsible for it coughing forcibly before asking “You awake?”

“Am now,” he grumbled, irritating lining his tone as he sat up. Then he placed the voice to a face, and rubbed at his eyes in an attempt to make them focus.

Koji still had one hand half-raised and half-curled in a way that suggested he’d intended on knocking first, and it looked like he had his glasses held in the other. A glance at the digital clock on the wall— _thankfully_ Altean numbers had been easy enough for him to memorize—showed that it was roughly one in the morning. Or the space equivalent of that, anyways.

“Uh…is something wrong?” he asked awkwardly, trying to keep the bewilderment out of his voice. Considering what happened earlier, this was unexpected.

That, and Koji was usually out like a light until morning…unless he hadn’t been sleeping, which looked like it might be the case this time. There wasn’t an audible response, but in the dim lighting, Stan saw him tense up. In other words, _yes_. He came over when Stan motioned for him to, at least, sitting next to him.

“Is this about what happened earlier?” he tried.

“No,” was the quick response. “I mean—it wasn’t that, but I—I shouldn’t’ve acted like that, but—”

“Hey, don’t sweat it,” Stan interjected, putting a hand on Koji’s shoulder, briefly eyeing the bandages on his left arm. “It was crazy earlier.” Especially before they’d reached the Balmera’s core to rescue Shay, with the two of them having practically walked into a three-sentry patrol.

The upside was that Stan had learned how his bayard worked in _very_ short order, that the sentries themselves were both _really_ flimsy, and that they were susceptible to electrical shocks shorting them out.

“’s not that, though,” Koji mumbled.

“Okay…then what is it?”

“It’s—” Koji stopped, taking a sharp breath. “It’s about what happened on Arus.”

A lot of things happened on Arus. “You’re gonna have to be a _little_ more specific,” he pressed, starting to feel vaguely anxious about this.

“Uh. Well.” Koji stopped again, fidgeting with his glasses, hands shaking a bit. He made a very bad attempt at smiling a few seconds later, saying “Well I—I guess it kind of _is_ the maze but—”

“Koji, you and I both know that you’re terrible at lying.” He flinched, and Stan paused. _If it’s not the maze, then maybe…_ “Is it about what happened with Sendak?”

That earned him a sideways look that bordered on direct, right before the metaphorical dam broke. “I—well, yeah, but I just—d-do you have any idea how _terrifying_ that was to f-find you hurt like that after the crystal got blown up a-and with Sendak and all the sentries and having to stop the main turbine from starting and—”

“Whoa, Koji, breathe!” Stan interrupted. “I-I’m fine now.”

“You almost _weren’t_ though.” His voice cracked toward the end, and he swallowed hard before adding almost inaudibly, “A-And it—it would’ve been my fault.”

Now Stan had a nagging feeling that this had to do with the big blank spot in his memory. “Uh, back up a sec. That doesn’t make any sense. How would—”

“ _Rover_.” It was something almost like a cross between a hiss and a snarl and that _did not_ sound right coming from _Koji_ of all people. “The—the security system thought it was _Rover_!”

…and _that_ explained why he hadn’t seen Rover at all recently. Chances were that it was locked in a closet somewhere right now.

“So we got duped once,” he said, the nervous unease that was practically radiating off of Koji giving him some pause. “We’ll just have to make sure it doesn’t happen again. And you had _nothing_ to do with that, okay?”

Koji shook his head. “But it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t taken that thing. You wouldn’t have gotten hurt and Haxus wouldn’t’ve—” He stopped again, breaking off with a choked sound this time.

Haxus. The name sounded vaguely familiar; Stan thought he heard Shiro mention it while he was detailing what exactly had happened after the castle’s first crystal had been destroyed. Sendak’s lieutenant, if he remembered right. But what did he have to do with this?

Stan didn’t get a response at asking that, and at leaning forward a bit to look at Koji’s face better; he’d paled a few shades, and looked like he was either going to be sick, or pass out, or both.

“Okay, now you’re starting to freak me out,” he muttered, before asking “What else happened?”

Another silence, this one feeling like an hour, before the stuttered, rapid answer came: “It—it was an accident, I-I forgot—I didn’t know he was that close to the edge of it—”

Cold clarity shot across from Yellow, right as Koji mentioned the catwalk in the main engine room.

Then it clicked.

“Oh.” Stan coughed a bit forcibly, blinking. “Oh _geez_ Koji, that’s—that’s the kind of stuff you have to tell someone about—”

“How was I supposed to do that?”

Stan didn’t know how to answer that, actually. He didn’t even have an _idea_ on how to _maybe_ answer that.

“What are we even _doing_ out here, Stan?” Koji asked, voice hitching a little.

They’d gone from being mechanics for a racing team in some interplanetary competition to being part of a hilariously-small vigilante group some _trillions_ of lightyears from Earth.

Earlier, they’d saved a small planet’s worth of people—a whole civilization, really—from being all but enslaved by a hostile faction that was in control of most of the _known universe_ with a few ancient lion-ships that somehow fit together into a larger mech.

In the process, they’d taken on both a freakish mechanical lizard thing with a bunch of laser eyes and a _second_ warship that outsized the one they were currently living in, and…and there had more than likely been at least two actual Galra on that thing.

That thought sent an uncomfortable jolt through him, though Yellow was a solid presence that became slightly more noticeable.

There…there hadn’t been another way around that situation.

“I don’t know,” he replied finally. All that got in response was something that sounded like a whimper that was trying to be passed off as a cough.

Stan recognized it, too. The first time he’d heard it was when they’d found a feral cat that they couldn’t agree on a name for—and it turned out they’d been trying to name it _the same thing_ —as roadkill. In short, it meant Koji was probably about ten seconds away from having a breakdown. It took _a lot_ to get him to that point.

With a last thought of _Screw it,_ he turned and pulled him into a hug. And that all but had the metaphorical dam get smashed to pieces, because then Koji was outright sobbing, if quietly.

Stan carefully leaned back against the wall, moving his other arm to alternate between running fingers through his hair and tracing circles into his back. He wasn’t sure how long it went on, though eventually Koji quieted down and stopped trembling, breathing evening out a little. He grimaced a little at the observation of his shoulder being soaked, but before he could move to get up to find a dry one, another detail stuck out to him.

Specifically the one of Koji being asleep now; exhaustion had finally caught up to him.

Stan stifled a sigh, shifting to get comfortable. Honestly, right now he was just too tired to really care. It wasn’t like this was the first time something like this happened, either, even though the _last_ time had been…well, a long time ago.

Given the circumstances, it wasn’t too big of a deal, and if he had to guess, this was probably the first time in _at least_ twenty-four hours that Koji was actually asleep. He could deal with a damp shirt and sore arm if it meant that the closest thing he had to a brother could get some peace of mind.

They’d dealt with a lot of crap before, and it really should’ve been obvious that life would throw even more at them. Shiro had even said something like that back on Arus.

The key difference was that this time it wasn’t just them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -I am at least 70% convinced that Koji is either left-handed or ambidextrous.


	11. Arc I: Race's End - Ghosts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the team finds that not only are they broke, but that Sendak's tampering with the castle had more ill effects than first assumed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this only took _84 YEARS_ to finish. Blame can be attributed to motivation being hard to come by, and my fragile self-confidence taking a nasty hit. Little piece of advice: if you don’t have anything nice to say, kindly keep quiet.
> 
> Regarding the title change: I had originally planned on following a naming scheme with all the chapters, but now that I know just how long this monster’s going to be, well. It just wasn’t going to fly.

It was as they walked into the building that Jordan started seriously wondering why he’d agreed to this. Then again, Shiro had been pretty clear in saying that it’d be a “good learning experience for _all_ of them.”

Coran had called the planet Deyra, and it was essentially the planetary equivalent of the north pole when it came to Galra territory. It was also the only inhabitable place for “nearly fifty lightyears in any direction” according to him, so it was more urbanized than anything.

At the same time, _urban_ wasn’t exactly how Jordan would describe the place. The various aliens passing by in any direction sometimes threw weird looks at them, though that was probably because they were all in their flight suits sans the helmets.

Coran stopped, blinking a few times at the sight of the market-scrapyard hybrid ahead of them, saying “Well, it certainly looks a bit different than the last time I was here.” He sounded a little sheepish.

Jordan stifled a groan. _I_ knew _this was a bad idea._

Shiro seemed to read his mind, giving him a _look_ before saying “We might have better luck we split up. Eva, you come with Coran and I. Jordan, Stan, Koji, stay together. Let us know if you find anything on the list.”

 _The list_ consisted of an assortment of food (sugar, salt, things like that; apparently some things were universal), the alien equivalent of laundry detergent, and something Jordan had no idea how to pronounce or even read, given that it was apparently one of those things that didn’t have a direct translation.

Coran said it was essentially fuel for the castle, though, and had emphasized on it being the most important thing on the list—even though he’d also said there was enough usable stuff left to last a few phoebs. The same went for the laundry supplies.

Blue had confirmed that a phoeb was _basically_ the intergalactic equivalent of a month. Apparently it took a bit of math to figure out, and giant mechanical lions didn’t like math too much. Unless they were Green, anyways—hence how Blue knew.

Speaking of green, Koji looked…well, _better_ would be stretching it, and it wasn’t even by much, but he didn’t look as _out-of-it_ as he had last night. He definitely looked like he got some actual sleep finally, though.

At the same time, now Stan seemed a bit space-y.

When satisfied with how thin the crowd was in the area of the market they’d wandered into, he glanced sideways at them, asking “You guys okay?”

Both stopped, looking back at him with near-identical expressions Jordan couldn’t name, before Stan said “Yeah, it’s just…” He made a vague motion with one hand. “Yesterday.”

“I know what you mean.”

It had taken a few minutes for him to convince himself to get up out of bed when he’d woken up, having been feeling dazed in a way where everything seemed fuzzed-over but also way too clear at the same time. He was also pretty sure he might’ve pulled a muscle in his left arm in helping move some debris that had partially blocked one of the tunnels in the Balmera, or maybe while doing all that fancy dodging while they’d been struggling to fight robo-lizard five-on-one.

“Think we’d have any luck there?” Koji pointed to one shop that vaguely resembled a place where someone would find car supplies on Earth, from what Jordan could see of the inside.

“Worth a try,” Stan agreed.

It looked promising at first—there were a few canisters that had the same label as what was the fuel for the castle. Then they brought two up to the counter, and everything went downhill, starting with the cashier staring blankly at the pastel-colored paper slips that were Altean currency.

“Is this some kind of joke?” she asked finally, scowling. “I don’t even know what planet this is from!”

“Uh—Altea?” Jordan attempted.

The cashier rolled all four eyes. “Yeah, and I’m the queen of Markazia. Now get lost, before I call security!”

All three of them scrambled outside and, around the nearest pseudo-street corner for good measure. Stan didn’t waste any time in tapping his gauntlet. “Guys? We just hit a snag.”

 _“If by that you mean we’re broke, we just found that out,”_ was Eva’s irritated response. _“Shiro said to meet us back at the entrance.”_

Jordan caught the last bit of a suggestion from Shiro when they did get there, being “There’s bound to be a pawn shop here somewhere.”

“We’d have to sort through the castle first,” was Coran’s answer. “And that by itself would take an entire movement at the least. We can’t afford to stay in one place that long, what with the Galra searching for us.”

He’d spoken a bit quieter than usual, though _usual_ was something Jordan only recognized already since Coran always talked like he was announcing something.

They were halfway to where the castle had been set down in one of the very few fields there were ( _temporarily_ , Coran had assured the copper-faced alien that had confronted them almost as soon as they’d gotten out) before Stan asked “You okay?”

Coran almost tripped on his own feet, momentarily wide-eyed, before laughing a bit. “It’s nothing, I just—I guess it’s finally sunk in just…just how long Altea’s been gone for, if the currency isn’t even considered a _rarity_ anymore.”

* * *

“For starters, I suppose the staff rooms could be cleared out,” Coran was going on. His voice faltered momentarily when he added “It’s not like anyone’s left to claim anything, unless there’s anything any of you want in there.”

“And how do you know that there’s a place that’ll trade the junk for that GAC stuff?” Jordan asked.

“It’s not _junk_ , it’s _antiques_!” Coran retorted hotly, before clearing his throat. “I happen to know a few places, though I’ll be going there by myself. Wouldn’t be safe for you all.”

Eva didn’t get a chance to ask what those _few places_ were before Shiro cut in. “We also need to look for a solid source of intel.”

“That too,” Coran agreed.

“Intel on what?” Stan sounded about as lost as Eva was feeling now.

“Fleet movements, supply lines, things like that,” Shiro clarified. “The tactical info we have now is pretty outdated.”

That got a nervous laugh from the adviser. “And that’s not a lie either. I don’t thinking raiding warships would be too productive in the long-run, though.”

“We might not have to do that.” He looked sideways at Coran. “We have the commander for this whole sector held prisoner right now.”

It took Eva a few seconds for what he said to register with what she knew. Next to her, Jordan went rigid. “Hang on a second, he’s still here?!”

“Frozen in a cryopod in the brig, rest assured,” was the quick response from Coran. Koji had paled several shades, and Stan’s expression was unreadable. There had been a flash of alarm from Red for a few seconds, before it simmered down into wariness.

“Though I doubt interrogation attempts will get us anywhere, either.” Coran scowled a little at nothing in particular with that statement, before slowly adding “Though there might just be a way for us to at least get _some_ information out of him.”

He took the dubiously-curious looks as an incentive to go on. “We _could_ try to use the same technology used to preserve King Alfor’s memories. There’s no telling how reliable the results would be, since it wasn’t designed with prisoner interrogation in mind.”

“You lost me at the first part,” Stan said flatly. “And I’m not going _anywhere_ near that guy.”

“Well it’s…more of an AI than anything, but like I mentioned, it has a copious amount of his memories. So it’s _almost_ like talking to the real deal, just—not quite.”

Eva toned out the rest of the conversation. That they had tech to do stuff like that was both cool and a little creepy. _Where would that stuff be in here, anyways?_

Red hesitated, uncertain, before he gave a vague description of what the hallways in that part of the castle looked like.

Well, she’d been waiting for a better chance to explore a little more anyways—the bedrooms, storage rooms, shuttle/star-racer hangar, library, and Lion hangars probably only made up a _fraction_ of the castle.

It wasn’t that hard sneaking out of the room, with how Coran and Shiro were still going over the potential interrogation plan. What _was_ hard was telling which hallway was which. The main reason she knew how to navigate between her bedroom, the bridge, training deck, and the dining hall was the sequence of left and right turns after a set number of staircase climbing/descending.

A glance through one larger-than-usual doorway led her to find that the castle also had a pool, and another room further down the same hall on the opposite side was brightly-lit and featured a few planters set against the walls, so it was probably supposed to be a greenhouse.

“Am I at least getting close to it?” she asked aloud after a few minutes. Red was unsure; he didn’t know the inside of the castle in terms of which hallway went where, because he never had a reason to pay attention. Eva scowled. “Well, now you do!”

The downside about looking more at the walls than what was ahead was that it was a little hard to see if someone was coming. At the same time, corners were tricky like that.

Coran looked just as surprised to see her. “Ah, Eva! I was wondering where you’d vanished off to.”

“Uh—well I—”

“No need to worry, I understand perfectly. In fact, King Alfor and I used to sneak out of tactical meetings all the time! Though in retrospect, a few misunderstandings could’ve been avoided…”

“Actually I was looking for that AI thing you were talking about,” she managed to get out.

“Oh.” Coran looked surprised for a second. “I was just heading down there myself, actually. I think Allura might be there, since she’s not in her room.”

It didn’t take long to reach the hallway Red had described. As it turned out, Eva had walked right by it. _Twice_.

The Lion at least seemed apologetic for that.

And there was something deeply disorienting about going from a metal hallway to a field of flowers.

She could still hear that the floor was still metal, when Coran had not-quite-jogged over to where Allura was sitting on the floor, and she definitely didn’t smell any flowers—but it all _looked_ real, right down to the clouds moving slowly across the holographic sky.

As for what (who) was next to Allura…Eva couldn’t be too sure on details, considering that he was blue-hued and translucent, but if she had to guess, that was the AI of King Alfor. He was smiling a bit in an amused way at Allura’s protest of “Coran, I feel fine now!” before turning a bit.

His brows raised slightly before asking _“Am I correct in guessing that’s one of our new paladins over there?”_

Allura looked over her shoulder, expression brightening. “Yes, that’s Eva.” It took a bit for Eva to notice that Allura was trying to motion her over, with how her focus had been fixed on the AI; she felt her face heat up a bit while she closed the distance.

She could definitely see the resemblance between Allura and the ghostly figure up close—they had the same eyes, for one. _“I trust Red isn’t giving you too much trouble?”_ the AI queried, brow quirked a little.

“N-Not really. I mean, he was being kind of annoying a few days ago.” There was a flash of indignation in response to that.

That got a laugh. _“I expected that much. We’ll have to share stories some other time.”_

It was when the two of them were halfway down to the brig (Coran had asked the mice to _make sure_ Allura made it all the way to her room; they’d saluted in response, though Eva gave Plachu a pointed glare to which got an innocent look in response) before she said, “He built the Lions, right?”

“That’s correct,” Coran replied without looking.

“Did he fly one of them too?”

Coran paused that time, but only for a second. “He did, yes.”

Eva didn’t press for more details; his voice had quieted just a bit, but the distant look on his face gave an impression that he didn’t want to talk about it right now.

Given how Stan had reacted earlier, and what he’d _said_ earlier, seeing him with the others in the detainment area wasn’t something Eva was expecting.

It also looked like Coran had been getting ready for this beforehand, given the various objects that were left by the stasis-pod Sendak was being held in.

“Like I said before, this technology wasn’t built with interrogating prisoners in mind,” Coran reminded while sticking a few small devices onto the glass. Attached by wires to said devices was what honestly looked like a giant glass cylinder with a keypad attached. “And there’s no telling if the information we get will be up-to-date with what’s happening _now_.”

“Even if it isn’t, it’ll at least be a point of reference,” Shiro reasoned. Coran held the gaze for a few seconds longer before sighing, putting a sequence in on the keypad.

A few long moments of silence went by before Jordan said “I don’t think it’s working.”

Coran ducked to look inside the glass. “No, it is, just…very, very slowly. I highly doubt Sendak’s a willing participant in this.”

Eva tensed. “Wait, I thought he was knocked out!”

“He is, don’t worry!” Coran reassured hastily. “It’s just that—well, while these pods can put someone into a complete physical stasis, it can’t entirely _turn off_ the mind, so to speak. It’s more like being in a fairly deep slumber.”

“How long is this going to take?” Stan asked.

“Typically, at least half a quintant. But I have a feeling this case will be longer than that.”

Jordan groaned. “You mean we’re gonna be standing here all day?”

“The process is self-automated once it’s started, so no. Which is good, because I’ve got approximately a million duties to attend to. Between that Galra crystal infecting our system, and then fighting off those ships and performing the Balmeran rejuvenation ceremony, the Castle of Lions has taken quite a beating.”

So long as they didn’t have to stay here. “I’m, uh—gonna go practice with my bayard a bit,” Eva managed to get out. “Jordan, you wanna come?”

He shrugged, though was stopped short by Coran’s “Ah, no-can-do, Number Two.” Before either of them could protest, he elaborated with “Jordan, you’re plenty capable with your bayard already. And Eva had a good point in saying that the aiming mechanics between the two of them are quite different.”

“So what am I supposed to do, then?”

“Come help me, of course! I was originally going to have Stan help out, but he seems to have made himself scarce already.”

“But I don’t… _ugh_ , fine.” Jordan seemed to deflate a bit, before looking sideways. “Hey, uh, Shiro? You don’t have to stay here, you know.”

“Someone has to keep an eye on this.”

There was a pause, before Coran shrugged. “It’s not going to be the most exciting thing in the universe, but if anything _does_ happen, come find me.”

* * *

“Shiro thinks it’ll work, but I doubt it,” Stan went on, turning the piece of machinery that he and Koji were in the midst of rewiring a bit on the crate that was serving as a makeshift table. Koji gave a neutral sound in response, turning to reach for the wrench that was off to the side, before stopping.

Stan looked at him. “Koji? Something wrong?”

He paused, biting his lip and looking sideways at the star-racer. “I…guess it just hit me. We’re probably going to have to take the _Arrow_ apart to replace the thrusters.”

Stan groaned. “ _Please_ don’t remind me.”

“It’ll be worth it in the end,” Koji pointed out.

The thrusters aside, there had also been the matter of _fuel_ , which had been why Stan had asked Coran if they could bring two smaller crystals from the Balmera with them. (Both of the aforementioned objects were currently inside of the crate being used as a table.)

If they could figure out how to get the engines to run off of the crystals, the matter of running out of fuel during a race wouldn’t be a worry anymore, even with the hyperdrive.

At the same time, Stan had a nagging feeling that having to design new engines altogether wasn’t off of the metaphorical table, and he had absolutely no idea on how to even _start_ on something like that.

Koji paused again, tapping two fingers against the surface of the crate. “Coran said that the crystal from the Galra ship has information on it. If Shiro’s plan really doesn’t work, maybe there’s something on that we could use?” Stan shrugged in response before starting to screw the cover for the machine part back on.

At least, he would’ve, if the lights hadn’t suddenly gone out.

“Maybe a fuse blew out somewhere?” Koji suggested hesitantly.

Stan shrugged. “Wouldn’t surprise me. A lot of the stuff in here probably needs replacing.” He stood up, fumbling a bit in the darkness to avoid tripping over any of the various things they’d left on the floor. “Guess now’s a good time to see if there really is anything useful on that crystal.”

He tried to ignore how weird it felt saying that.

* * *

Jordan had a vague idea on why Coran had wanted Stan to help him out after a few minutes. “Okay, explain to me how these things can bring someone back from the brink in a day, but _can’t_ clean themselves?”

Coran guffawed. “Self-cleaning pods, that’s a good one!” Jordan gave him a withering look at that one, but Coran went on, oblivious to it. “Y’know, this kind of reminds me of my time as a young cadet myself.”

And _that_ got Jordan’s attention. “Wait, you what?”

The mustached Altean glanced over his shoulder at him for a few seconds. “Right, I remember Shiro mentioning that you’re one too—well, for Earth’s military, anyways. But yes, I had just enlisted in the Altean space aeronautics sub-tech nano-weaponry unit—SASTNWU for short, bit of a mouthful—and I was sent off to boot camp. Our sergeant had us cleaning cryopods day and night. I got so good at it, I earned my first set of stripes!”

That actually didn’t sound too different from how Jordan ended up making a name for himself, aside from _William’s grandson_ , except his forte was marksmanship.

Coran was still prattling on, but everything seemed muffled all of a sudden. And cold. And—and since when had the pod closed?!

“Wha’—hey! Coran!”

He wasn’t sure if Coran had heard him or not, considering that the probably-malfunctioning pod was retracted back into the floor seconds later. Blue seemed more bemused than alarmed, which Jordan took as a reassuring thing.

For about two minutes, anyways. It was completely dark and steadily getting colder as the seconds were dragging on, and while Jordan was _pretty sure_ there was a little more room in here than there was in the _Arrow_ ’s turret, he was still starting to feel claustrophobic—then the pod jolted and the next thing he knew he was looking at one very startled Coran, who was quick to open it up.

Jordan almost tripped in scrambling over to the middle of the room, stammering out “Th-That thing j-just closed on me!” between chattering teeth.

“Are you sure you didn’t just trip and fall in?” In response to the scathing look given, he added “No judgement, it happens. Why, I remember a time when—”

“N-No! I was already s-standing in it when it shut!”

“Alright, alright, don’t get your boots in a bunch. They’re probably malfunctioning too. Just have to reset the systems and they’ll be in working order again.”

“If you s-say so,” Jordan grumbled, starting toward the door. “I’m going down to the t-training deck.”

“I think I’ll join you in that.” Coran matched his pace. “Might as well reset those systems too, just in case.”

They made it about halfway there before they saw Eva bolt around a corner at the end of the hall, running toward them, and the reason for her _running_ was shown to be what looked to be…the training robot, sword in hand.

“Uh-oh,” was all Coran said before turning to also run—and that, on top of the fact that the memory of the last time Jordan had seen that thing was still pretty fresh in his mind, was enough to convince him to run too.

“What the heck did you do to tick it off?” he asked after they’d turned another corner.

“I don’t know it just came out of nowhere and went nuts!” she shot back without pause.

“Ah, it’s not the first time—something like this happened,” Coran got out. “Of course, it was—back when there was always someone in the control room ready to disable any malfunctioning, uh, functions.”

“So what do we do?”

Coran didn’t answer verbally, instead looking ahead. Jordan did too—there was a set of doors ahead, but the see-through part showed open space beyond a short hall: it was an airlock. Next to the doors was a console. The adviser promptly shoved both him and Eva to the side before hitting the center button on the aforementioned console.

The robot was pretty much dragged out, the doors being shut again as soon as it was past them. “Not really…what I wanted to happen…but oh well,” was all he said in response to their incredulous looks, between breaths. “There’s plenty…plenty more of them.”

“Well I’m not going back there anytime soon,” Eva muttered. “Where are Stan and Koji?”

“Uh…well, they _were_ in the shuttle bay, but it looks like they’re both in the Green Lion’s hangar now.” Coran paused. “Probably checking that Galra crystal for info.”

“Wait, how does _that_ even work?”

* * *

“I don’t think I’ll ever know how this was figured out,” Stan muttered, staring at the screen that was now showing an array of code.

“I don’t think I will either, to be honest,” Koji agreed. “But we won’t know unless we _try_ to figure it out.”

“True.”

Even if there wasn’t any _relevant-to-the-situation_ information here, there was bound to be at least _something_ they could learn from. Green agreed wholeheartedly with that sentiment; she’d directed him to the equipment needed to get at whatever information was on that crystal, which was a bunch of sensors connected to wires hooked into a computer, and that aforementioned computer was then linked up to his tablet.

“Alright, I think they’re all set,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at where Stan was waiting by the desk. “Hit the switch on the left.”

Two things happened at once then, the first being that the wires lit up; Koji assumed that meant they were doing what they were supposed to be doing.

The second was that he abruptly found that his feet weren’t on the floor anymore. “Uh…you didn’t hit the switch for the artificial gravity, did you?”

“I don’t think there’d be a switch for that in the first place!” Stan shot back while grabbing onto one of the computer monitors.

The crystal was already out of reach, and so was the movable platform that it had been placed on. Green wasn’t quite in reach either; she seemed somewhere between amused and concerned right now, and Koji wasn’t sure how exactly to perceive that.

Wait. _Green_.

“Uh, a little help please?” he asked, trying to turn to look toward the Lion’s head. She didn’t move, if only because she didn’t know how to—she couldn’t access the castle’s systems by herself.

“No, I mean—”

A flash of realization shot over before he could finish, and she carefully lifted one giant metal paw. Very sharp claws being included, of course. Green made note of the concern, and adjusted the angle so that the tips were facing toward the ceiling.

When Coran had been going on about the functions of the castle, he’d touched on the gravity-generator enough for Koji to have learned that the hangars all had separate, smaller ones that kicked in when all the doors were closed off. Something about helping maintain an artificial atmosphere when the hangar’s main entrance/exit was open.

Either way, if he could just get one of the side-doors to open, the main generator would override the hangar one. Then again, that was only if _that one_ wasn’t being weird, too.

The good news was that his aim was perfect.

The bad news was that the main gravity generator kicked in abruptly. Which is to say, he hit the floor hard enough to knock the breath out of him. Everything else that hadn’t been fastened to the floor also came crashing down, _hopefully-not-delicate_ equipment included.

“Okay…since when could they do that?” Stan asked after picking himself up, briefly glancing back at the Green Lion, who returned to her usual pose. Koji just shrugged in response.

“What the heck happened in here?” Jordan was the one who had spoken, and both Eva and Coran had matching expressions of confusion; all three of them had stopped in front of the doorway.

“The gravity generator either turned off, or bugged out,” Koji replied.

“And the lights in the shuttle hangar went out earlier,” Stan supplied.

Coran grimaced. “Considering the other issues that are cropping up just now, I’m starting to think that the Galra crystal did more damage than I first thought.”

“So let’s get rid of it,” Eva said.

The advisor shook his head. “Wouldn’t do any good. The damage was done the moment Sendak plugged it into the castle. I’ll probably have to do a full system reboot to flush everything.”

“Wait, wasn’t Shiro still down there?”

“As far as I know, he still is,” Coran affirmed. “We’d all best stick together in case anything else malfunctions on us.”

Coran had a point, and Green agreed with him. But that didn’t mean Koji exactly liked the idea of going to that specific area in the castle at that exact moment.

Stan tapped his shoulder, muttering “Just don’t think about it.”

And he didn’t. At least, not until they actually reached that hall. At the same time, Shiro stammering half-coherent sentences was what really had everyone’s attention—as was the fact that Sendak wasn’t even there.

He actually wasn’t in the castle at all anymore, given that Shiro ejected the stasis pod into space right before they’d gotten there. (He actually sounded _scared_ when he’d mentioned hearing the commander’s voice, even though there was no way that should’ve even been possible.)

“Okay, I’m starting to think these might not be typical malfunctions,” Coran said quietly, eyes narrow.

“What do you mean by—” Stan started, only to be cut off by a console beeping a few times.

“Oh _now what_?” Jordan exclaimed.

Coran didn’t reply, instead taking off back down the hall. They almost literally ran into Allura halfway there, looking disheveled. “Coran, what’s going on?”

“I—I don’t know!” They all stormed onto the bridge, right as the castle exited the wormhole.

The viewscreens definitely had some sort of UV-blocking function, and light shielding, given that they were _dangerously close to a star_.

Allura all but lunged for the pedestal, colliding with the barrier that abruptly formed around it hard enough to stumble back. There was a flicker inside of the barrier, and then there was someone standing there.

Koji didn’t recognize him, not really, but there was a sharp intake of breath from Coran, Allura seemed to physically wilt for a moment, and the burst of emotion from Green translated to… _something_ that left Koji with a suspicion that the Lion had just short-circuited.

“Father, what are you doing?” Allura asked, her voice hoarse. “If the castle doesn’t change course, we’ll all perish!”

_“I know. That is my intention.”_

“What?! But why?”

The hologram turned to face them, expression blank. _“Don't you see, dear daughter? Zarkon can never be defeated. He's been ruling for ten-thousand decaphoebs.”_

“But we _must_ continue to fight!”

 _“Fight for_ what _? It is all over for Altea. You don’t have to live a lifetime of war.”_

The hologram flickered a few times, distorting, before the voice spoke again—this time with a completely different tone. _“Allura, my AI has been corrupted. You must disconnect my power source!”_

It only made a perfect amount of sense that the one legitimate (legitimate in that Koji could make sense of how it was put together, mostly) AI present in the ship had been corrupted. It was a little obvious, in retrospect.

Allura had gone very still in response to the words, shutting her eyes tightly for a few seconds before saying “I’ve got to get into the AI chamber to disconnect the power manually. Coran, can you get the door unlocked?”

He opened his mouth and closed it again, before saying “I can, yes. But—disconnecting the power would—”

Allura cut him off. “Paladins, get to your Lions! I need you to slow the Castle’s descent into the star.”

It was a sudden reminder as to how much bigger the castle-ship was compared to the Green Lion. It was also alarmingly easy to tell that, even with all five of the Lions going at full-tilt while braced against the larger ship, that they weren’t making much of a difference.

The monitor with the flashing red warning sign that showed a display of the _way-too-close star_ could’ve easily been just a proximity alert, but at the same time, Green being _this_ tense sent a very different message.

 _“Okay, I’m no expert on the sun or anything, but uh,”_ Jordan started uneasily. _“Blue thinks that thing’s gonna blow any minute.”_

 _“That’s_ very reassuring _, Jordan,”_ Eva said tersely.

 _“Not now you two,”_ Shiro cut in sharply.

It took a bit of fumbling with one hand to turn those three comm links. “Hey…Stan? What—what the AI said back there.” Stan glanced at Koji over the monitor, prompting him to finish: “How long are we going to be out here?”

There was a pause, before he sighed. _“To be honest? I’m not sure. We’re just…just gonna have to do what we can in the meantime. Okay? Don’t let what that thing said bug you.”_

Green’s presence brightened a little—do what they could.

That sounded like a good start.

So long as that star didn’t go supernova before they could get far, _far_ away from it.

* * *

Eva wasn’t sure how much time had gone by before Allura called them back in. Just that it was close enough to the deadline for Red to not let her out and practically fling up his barrier as soon as he was in his hangar. She _heard_ why a few seconds later, and saw the space outside light up—right before it was replaced with the swirling blues and blacks that was a wormhole’s interior.

“That was close,” she muttered to herself, slumping back in the chair. Red agreed, solemn.

To think that it had been the AI the entire time. The parting words he’d had for Eva earlier suddenly had a whole different meaning to them, and she had to suppress a shudder.

At the same time…that they were all still in one piece meant that the AI probably wasn’t intact anymore, if her guess in what Coran had been trying say was right.

Eva paused at the hangar’s door, looking back over her shoulder at the Lion. His presence felt unusually distant, but whether or it was just the proximity or not letting it be clear-enough, it felt almost _hollow_.

She mulled it over for a bit, before asking “Was—was he your pilot?”

A minute dragged by, and then another, before Red gave a sort of halfhearted emotion that was discernible enough to translate to a _yes_.

Eva started toward the bridge, before Red quietly redirected her toward the lounge. The others (except Coran, who if she had to guess was off doing a complete system reboot) were already there, and she could practically feel the questioning look from both Shiro, who had been standing by the door, but she just took a spot on one end of the couch without saying a word.

Jordan was lying on the other end, taking up most of that side, Allura was sitting in the middle, and both mechanics had taken a spot on the floor.

Shiro looked away from Eva eventually, quietly saying “I’m sorry about your father, princess.”

There was a pause before she said “That was not my father. My father—he’s been gone for a very long time now. What matters is that we’re all still alive.”

Silence again, which was broken by Jordan starting haltingly, “I, uh, didn’t really know mine, but my uncle—he takes lots of pictures.”

Awkward attempt at changing the subject was awkward. It was a good attempt, though, and Eva could respect that. “What kind of pictures?” Koji asked, leaning forward a bit.

Jordan shrugged. “Just landscapes, really. Local stuff. And my cousin Sasha does a few paintings sometimes, and Fiona—well, she’s set up a blanket fort by herself in less than twenty minutes. I dunno _how_ she does it.”

“Blanket forts,” Stan repeated blankly. “Those were fun.”

Koji nodded. “Miguel threw a fit every time, though.”

More silence, though this time it only lasted about three seconds before Jordan sat up. “Hold on a second. I know you both work for the guy, but just how long have you known him for?”

They both stared at him for a few seconds, Stan looking extremely awkward all of a sudden and Koji looking more embarrassed than anything, before the latter coughed a bit. “Just over a decade, actually. I don’t think either of us would be here right now if he hadn’t helped us back then.”

“Don’t think we would’ve gotten off the streets either,” Stan muttered.

Shiro reacted first to that, a quiet “You’ve both come a long way, then,” being his only comment.

Allura seemed vaguely surprised and maybe a little curious but she didn’t say anything, and there was a quiet “Oh,” from Jordan.

Silence #4 came and dragged on for maybe a minute, up until Eva stood up and went right for the door, starting with a dash as soon as she saw Shiro move to stop her, and she didn’t stop until she was out of breath, stumbling through the nearest doorway.

It was a smaller room with dark walls, when the idea of looking around occurred to her, with a metal pedestal featuring a broken glass cylinder atop it, with more glass shards being scattered on the floor.

That she recognized the pedestal was what let her know just where exactly she’d ended up running to, and she almost laughed at the irony of it.

She’d never really given much of a thought to either Stan or Koji in terms of what their lives back on Earth were like, since they’d never breathed a word of it—and as messed-up as it had been for them, they were _still_ more put-together than she was.

Eva wasn’t sure how long she was there, sitting and leaning against the metal, just that at one point Chuchule crawled up onto her leg with a squeak that sounded almost like a cautious question. Not too long after that, the door opened, and whoever it was waited a bit before quietly stepping toward her. “Eva?”

Considering earlier’s events, it being Allura wasn’t exactly expected. At the same time, it was one of the mice that found her first, the little snitches.

“You left us all a little worried back there.” The princess took a spot next to her, before saying “If—if there’s anything you want to talk about, I’m willing to listen.” Red pointedly focused on the second part.

Well, they all knew who she really was already anyways. “It’s just—not fair,” Eva said eventually, looking away.

“Life rarely is.” Allura seemed pensive for an awkward amount of time, before saying “It also tends to target the things often taken for granted.”

_You got that right._

Chuchule squeaked again, looking over at Allura, who blinked a few times before sitting up a bit straighter. “I almost forgot about that. Eva, about that ruin you and the others discovered on Arus, there…had been one like it on Altea, too.”

“Wait, seriously?” Okay, so the mice weren’t _completely_ bad.

Allura nodded, looking distant before smiling thinly. “My father fell into it, actually. It was underground, and the roof was worn rather thin by then.” Red seemed to perk up a little, amused at the memory.

“The one on Alwas sank before I could go into it,” Eva remarked. “I mean, I’m kind of glad Shiro crashed near there before I could, but…”

“I—have to agree with that. If you had, Zarkon might’ve had the Red Lion right now.”

“Not the first weird coincidence,” she admitted. In retrospect, that she’d gotten to her dad’s company _right before_ preparations for the Great Race had started was a huge one.

 _Dad._ Shiro had been right about Sendak having been a possible info-source—for more than a few things. But of course, he’d been launched into space.

“Shiro told me that he’d cracked the pod’s glass,” Allura said, having Eva realize that she’d said some of that out loud. “It’s unlikely he’s still alive.”

“ _Unlikely_ isn’t a _definite_ though,” Eva returned, standing up—and it was a bit of glass breaking underfoot with a sharp cracking sound that made both of them jump.

 _Oh. Right._ “I—wasn’t really looking where I was going earlier…”

“You don’t have to apologize for that. It was just another coincidence.” The last part was said with some wryness, before standing up. “The others are probably wondering where we are. We should get back to them.”

“Y-Yeah.”

Allura stopped near the doorway, glancing over her shoulder at Eva, smiling faintly before saying “We’ll find your father eventually, don’t worry.”

 _It’s not just_ finding _him I’m worried about._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really did want to get a segment with Allura in here. Specifically regarding the resolution of the AI incident. But when I get frustrated to the point of crying when trying to write something because of words just flat-out Not Coming To Me, it’s going to get a workaround instead. 
> 
> And, well. Season 7 happened. Thankfully it’s a looooooong way off, so I have time to figure things out.  
> I’m going to be applying small edits to the previous chapters to accommodate new information that’s relevant, such as the Lions’ interiors…though I’m going to be quietly hoping we get some official schematics/blueprint-type things for them, because they’re confusing as heck.  
> Also regarding S7 of Voltron. I still recommend watching the show. Just…stay away from the fandom. **VERY FAR AWAY**.
> 
> Honestly disappointed in myself for the ending, but I was faced with the fact that an originally-intended line wouldn’t fit with character progression.
> 
> On a happier note, this fic has somehow attracted fanart from someone I've never really interacted with! https://twitter.com/Mako_Draws/status/979563584110788608  
> Go give them _ALL_ the retweets!


	12. Arc I: Race's End - Lapse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small period of downtime ends with a bang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this chapter isn't the best out there, and not up-to-par with what my vision of it was like, but oh well.  
> FUN THINGS HAPPEN AFTER THIS ONE.

A few days went by without much event, save for the Galran crystal being ejected in the general direction of the nearest star once everything remotely useful had been copied off of it, and the prompt landing of the castleship on a small grassy planet that was dotted with rocky outcroppings and a few lakes.

With the sheer amount of things that had been messed-up by the crystal, Allura had decided that they would be staying put for the duration of the repairs. Said repairs included a meticulous check of everything program-related for the training deck, which meant free time—which was spent, at least by Stan, Koji, and Eva, on repairing the _Arrow_.

Right now, the floor of the hangar was strewn with various mechanical parts; it had taken a bit of searching for other storerooms and tracking down Coran to help get some things working, but the effort had the end-result of Stan being able to finally take an actual look at the damage.

The hyperdrive was _more than_ shot, and everything near it looked like it was at least singed. It’d likely be safer to just up and replace the entire thing…but getting any compatible parts was out of the question, given how far they were from Earth.

On the upside, Coran had identified at least two defunct shuttles which they could take and modify/reuse parts from. The cockpit’s covering had also been replaced, this time with a material similar to what the shuttles used. It looked like glass and felt like glass, but it was a _lot_ harder to break.

On the downside, the engines had to be left as-is—Coran had also taken a close look at the reactors and told them point-blank that it was _unlikely_ that they’d work with the Balmera crystals.

Which meant they had to figure out how to design an engine that _would_ work with them.

“Any word from Allura yet?” he asked, glancing sideways at the other two.

“No,” Koji said, not looking up from his tablet. “That decoding program is going to need a _lot_ of refinement. It’ll be a while before it can sort through everything.” Eva let out an annoyed sigh at that.

At the same time, Stan heard the door open, and a surprised “What the—?” from Shiro, who was standing in the doorway, with both Jordan and Allura behind him.

“Wanna help?” was the first thing Eva asked.

“Uh…I’m not sure I’d be much help, if any,” he got out after a few long seconds, looking around the room again.

“I don’t think I’m ever gonna know how you guys work this fast,” Jordan said with complete seriousness, while Allura looked somewhere between startled and impressed.

Koji fidgeted with his tablet a bit. “We’ll pick all this up when we’re done.”

“Actually, I think this is about as much as we _can_ get done right now,” Stan pointed out, giving the _Arrow_ another once-over. “She’s functional again, at least.”

“Think we could do a test-flight?” Eva looked hopeful in asking that.

Stan thought about it for a few seconds. “We probably have enough fuel left, but I think we’d have to ask first.” He said the last part lower so that only she would hear, though all that did was prompt Eva to turn the puppy-eyes onto Allura, who visibly winced for a second.

“I suppose it won’t hurt anyone, but after that, all five of you need to start practicing forming Voltron. The repairs are almost finished, and we’ll be leaving as soon as Coran and I are sure everything’s in working order again.”

That changed the air in the hangar pretty quick, and got Yellow to perk up slightly. While Stan was appreciating the downtime, the Lion had been getting more restless as each day had passed. Eva’s eagerness was infectious, though, and it wasn’t just her either; Stan was pretty sure the _Arrow_ would be running better with the modified parts, but he wanted to actually _see_ it work. Yellow was starting to seem lowkey curious, too.

So a few minutes later, they were all gathered outside. The nearest lake was roughly the size of the one that had been near their team’s pit on Alwas, with a wide expanse of open grass in all directions, broken only by a few rock piles here and there, one of which having a lone tree next to it.

“Just remember to take it easy on the fuel consumption,” Koji reminded. “What’s in there now is all there is.”

_“Yeah, yeah, I know that already,”_ Eva said, the eye-roll being practically audible. The next thing Stan knew, he was nearly knocked over by the gust produced by the star-racer shooting forward.

“Well she seems eager,” Coran noted.

“You should’ve seen her back on Alwas,” Koji said, glancing at the tablet screen.

They’d both made sure to be very clear in telling Eva that the hyperdrive was still (and would be for a while longer) off-limits, but aside from that, everything else was fair game. And she definitely wasn’t holding back with the tricks, to Jordan’s audible dismay.

Stan shook his head a bit, noticing that Coran was looking sideways in the direction of the tree. Shiro noticed too. “Coran?”

“We seem to have a spectator,” the advisor said calmly, which got Stan to look. He didn’t see anything at all, up until something moved. Whoever it was, they were wearing something that let them blend in with the rock and tree almost perfectly. Stan didn’t realize they were looking back at them until whoever it was bolted in the direction of the distant hill.

“I thought there was no one here?” Koji asked, also having seen the sudden motion.

“That’s what the scans reported,” Allura replied, sounding confused. “Then again, they aren’t at full power.”

“We should go after them,” Shiro said, grabbing his helmet off of the rock he and the princess had been sitting on. (Tuning the _Arrow_ ’s radio frequency to match up with what everything else communication-wise was using had been the easy part of today.) “Eva, Jordan, there’s a change of plans.”

* * *

“This sucks,” Eva grumbled for the fourth time. “How come stuff like this always happens when we’re having fun?”

“Beats me,” Jordan replied between breaths, pulling himself up onto the next ledge. The terrain had gone from grassy plains to rugged and dusty after a few minutes, with the one upside being the very-clear footprints winding up the rocky hill, despite them having had to take the time to both bring the _Arrow_ back to the hangar and get their uniforms on.

“At least it’s nice up here,” Koji said, glancing back at them for a few seconds. He, Stan, and Shiro were ahead of the two of them, but that was probably only because Eva was not-quite dragging her feet this time around.

Jordan had to admit that the technician wasn’t wrong. There was a nice breeze on the cliffside, which was a pleasant contrast to the heat.

It didn’t stop him from almost losing his grip on the last ledge though; Stan grabbing his arm at the last second was the only thing that kept him from having a long and rough tumble back down, and he muttered a thanks. The top of the giant hill was, for the most part, pretty flat and covered in sand.

Being encased on three different sides with rock faces, it was something like a small grotto—with the back wall having a rusty-looking metal door in it.

“Huh. I guess someone _is_ living here,” Jordan muttered, starting toward it.

Two seconds later he felt someone pulling him back by the collar of his uniform (which they’d all put on before starting out) right before something impaled the ground right in front of him.

Jordan wouldn’t exactly call it a _sword_ —if anything it looked more like an oversized ceramic knife with a hole through the hilt. It was promptly pulled back up toward a ledge off to the side somehow, someone catching it by the hilt; lo and behold, it was the person they’d followed.

The camouflage shawl aside, they also had a mask covering their face sans eyes, and was wearing a dark-colored outfit—but a _very_ distinguishing feature about them was that they had four arms.

Their eyes narrowed before lunging down at them sword-first, this time aiming at Stan, who jumped back just in time. “H-Hey, hold on a second!” Eva exclaimed, stumbling back. “We’re not—!”

Another swing of the oblong blade cut the words short, and it was too close of a call for Jordan’s liking. Shiro’s too, with how his prosthetic hand lit up violet with an low humming sound.

Their opponent’s eyes narrowed, and they withdrew two more (much-smaller) blades from their cloak—and then Jordan felt something tackle him from the side with a shrill battle-cry. At the same time, someone he didn’t recognize the voice of exclaimed “ _Quirrel_?!”

Jordan tried to turn his head—whoever “Quirrel” was had him effectively pinned down—to try to see, but the most he could make out was an iridescent greenish-black-shelled arm with curved serrated claws that were thankfully tucked inward.

“I told you to stay put!” the new voice went on, which he assumed was the four-armed alien.

“Five-on-one ain’t fair though!”

Jordan paused in his attempt to get loose. _This Quirrel person better not be a kid._ They sounded young, but it also could just be their voice.

“I—I’m sorry,” Shiro broke in, sounding confused. “I think there might be a misunderstanding here—who are you?”

Silence for a beat. “Before I say anything, you answer me first. Who the _quiznak_ are you?”

“My name is Shiro,” the Black Lion’s pilot started carefully. “We’re the Paladins of Voltron.”

The alien mouthed the last word, eyes widening, before saying “Quirrel, for the love of the ancients, let the blue one up.” The weight slowly removed itself from Jordan’s back, and he stood up and brushed the dust off of his uniform before throwing a glare at the second alien.

In retrospect, the shelled arm should’ve been a hint. Green eyes faceted into four parts glared back at him from a face that looked like some unholy cross between a dragonfly, a mantis, and an iguana. No hair was to be seen, just two antenna bent backwards.

It was also probably why Koji was staying to the opposite side of the clearing; it wasn’t a secret that he wasn’t too fond of bugs, ever since an incident involving one of Alwas’s native spiders, which were easily _twice_ the size of a tarantula, having holed up in the workshop that had been in the back of the pit.

It had not been a peaceful morning. (Koji had been fine with all the giant caterpillars, though. Jordan would have to remember to ask him about it later.)

The four-armed alien’s eyes flicked over all five of them before sighing heavily, flipping their mask up, showing a purple-tinted face with a very fine fur coat covering it, and narrow violet eyes. “Name’s Twyla. The kid’s Quirrel.”

…the universe was just pulling out _all_ the punches for him, wasn’t it.

* * *

“You live here by yourself?” Shiro asked on the way down through the tunnel.

“Live here, yes,” Twyla replied. “Just us two, no. There’s also Wayth, Aerel, and Cedryn—and wasn’t Cedryn supposed to be watching you three?” The second part was spoken sharply and directed at Quirrel, who shrugged.

The tunnel that had been beyond the door had spiraled down into the ground, only now opening up into a spacious cavern lit by luminescent crystals that were hung from wires at intervals across the ceiling.

Shiro saw two more figures look up from where they’d been sitting at noticing the movement—one vaguely resembled some sort of combination between an armadillo and a jackal, and was configured like a centaur, even though they were more or less the size of a large dog. The other outright looked like a humanoid frilled lizard with small, short horns sticking out horizontally from the sides of their head, the dark-green hue of their scales rapidly fading to a pale yellow shade.

“Don’t worry Aerel, they’re safe,” Twyla assured, and the yellow brightened to an orange shade. “Wayth, where’s Cedryn?”

“Garage,” the armadillo-centaur replied quietly.

“Figures…Quirrel, go get him.”

“Why do I have to?”

“Because I said so!”

Quirrel hissed a bit before stalking off toward a tunnel to the side. The other two shuffled a bit in place, looking awkward, before meandering off towards a different tunnel. “She seems pleasant,” Jordan remarked dryly.

“It’s a work in progress. Now the least I can do for you guys for attacking you like that is giving you some info.” She ducked into a room sectioned off by a curtain, returning a minute later. “I’ll have a storage drive for you with recent Galran troop movements stored on it in about a varga. Starmap cross-references and everything.”

“Thank you,” Shiro said, a little surprised. “But why—how do you have that information?”

She shrugged one set of arms. “It’s good info to have if you don’t want anyone finding you. That, and certain people pay _nicely_ for that kind of info. Of course the computer’s ancient, hence it taking a while to process everything.”

“Twyla? If—if you don’t mind me asking, how did you do that thing with your, uh, sword earlier?” Koji asked. “Is it magnetic, or…?”

Her expression brightened. “Nope! Just a trick I spent a few years working on using the most durable thread on this side of the known universe.” She took the blade out and angled the hilt toward them, twirling one hand a few times until Shiro could see the light reflect faintly off of the string. “Aek’xai thread, to be specific. Ain’t cheap, that’s for sure.”

“You needed me for something?” another new voice called.

Twyla paused. “Uh, yeah. Did I or did I not tell you to keep an eye on these three?”

The person who had spoken there went stiff, shrinking back a little. He had pale-green skin, with the green being darker on his head, and like Quirrel, had a few insect-like features, though not nearly to the same degree as her.

“Well, I—got the engine working again,” Cedryn (Shiro assumed it was Cedryn) defended. “That’s something, right?”

“You did? Well…yeah, I guess.” Twyla shook her head. “Just so you know, if it had been anyone else that found us, it would’ve been a whole lot worse.”

“Okay.” Cedryn looked at Shiro briefly, then at the others. “So who are they?”

“Eh, just the Paladins of Voltron.”

“…you mean like the fairy tale?” Shiro almost physically felt Black wilt a little at that.

“I can bring Red up here if you want,” Eva offered brightly. Shiro just barely heard a slight edge in her tone; chances were that Black hadn’t been the only one to take some offense to that comment.

“Pass. I am _this_ close to having the ship up and running again.”

“You have a ship down here?” Stan asked.

“Yeah, on the floor below. Why?”

“Could we get a look at it?” Koji sounded hopeful. “We’re—trying to figure something out for a…project of ours, which needs a new engine.”

Cedryn gave a sort of half-grin/half-smirk in response. “Can’t fault you for that. Projects are good time-killers.” He glanced at Twyla again, who rolled her eyes. He took the cue to start back to the tunnel, both mechanics close behind.

Eva looked like she wanted to follow them for a few seconds, but instead asked “Wait, why don’t you want anyone knowing you’re here?”

“The kids’ve gone through enough already. My end-goal is to get them back to their families, but—well, long story short, we found ourselves in the back-end of nowhere surrounded on all sides by major patrol routes. We get by well enough, even if the only thing there is to eat around here is fish from the lake.”

Shiro’s focus caught on the first part. “What do you mean by that?” He had a sinking suspicion on what she meant, but he wanted to know for sure. Jordan seemed to catch onto his unease, standing a little straighter.

Twyla bit her lip. “I don’t know for sure about Aurel, since a pal of mine dropped him off here, but Wayth’s family—well, they were merchants caught in some crossfire between a rebel group and the local commander. He wasn’t on their ship with them, thankfully, but…well, you can figure how that ended for them.”

There was a quiet “Oh,” from Eva at that, who’d paled a bit before Twyla had finished speaking.

Jordan looked something between startled and uncomfortable before asking “What about the other two?”

“They found me, actually. That ship Cedryn took the other two to see? Both of ‘em were in it. Quirrel won’t say anything and Cedryn keeps changing the story, but given that it was a shuttle from a battlecruiser…”

“They escaped,” Shiro finished, and she nodded. Everything regarding his own escape was still a foggy disaster, but the underlying thought of it having been _difficult_ was prevalent.

“Um, Shiro?” Eva started. “Shouldn’t—d’you think Allura and Coran would be wondering what happened to us by now? We’ve been out here a while.”

There was an unspoken request in there, and given the nature of the topic that had just been discussed—which part of Shiro was now considering smacking himself for—it made sense. She had a point, too.

“Probably,” he admitted. “Go get Stan and Koji.” Eva took off for the leftmost tunnel in response, Jordan stuttering something before following her.

Twyla had watched them go, and waited until they were out of earshot before saying “Older than Quirrel, younger than Cedryn,” quirking an eyebrow before adding, “What’s her deal?”

Shiro thought it over, before replying with “It’s complicated.”

* * *

At that point in time, Koji was just happy that the mini-computers in their uniforms’ gauntlets had a camera function, and Cedryn had been nice enough to explain the basic details of how typical ship-engines on this half of the universe were put together.

He’d felt uneasy the whole time, given Quirrel glowering at them from the corner, but he’d tried to mask it as best he could.

It hadn’t really occurred to him until then that there were likely insect-like aliens out there somewhere. It was also likely that whatever she was wasn’t the only one, which meant that he had another personal issue to work on.

Then they were waylaid by Allura almost right after they’d finished explaining about Twyla, with the reminder of the trade-off for being able to test the _Arrow_ ’s functionality.

Green was happy to be out of her hangar, with the other four lining up on either side of her. The events on the Balmera were just another indicator of how much they didn’t know about the Lions. How exactly did they all fit together like that? (And what bits he did know didn’t even _start_ to account for the _sensory_ half of it.)

_“Does anyone remember how it happened last time?”_ Stan asked, the series of monitors showing the others coming up on the display.

Koji also didn’t remember much of what exactly had happened on the Balmera. At least, not a decent portion of the events involving the lizard with all the laser-eyes.

_“I—wasn’t really thinking about anything when it happened,”_ Jordan admitted after a few seconds, looking sheepish.

_“Don’t look at me,”_ was all Eva had to say on it.

Green was silent on the matter this time, and judging by the near-synced expressions the others had, it was the same across the board. Shiro took a deep breath. _“Okay, so we still don’t know exactly how forming Voltron works. Let’s just fly in formation for a few minutes to warm up. Maybe it’ll come back to one of us.”_

It didn’t. And an hour of just circling the castle was…pretty boring. Both Allura and Coran had contacted them to check their progress once each, about fifteen minutes apart.

_“Can we try something else now?”_ Eva asked.

_“I just rebooted the castle’s defense systems,”_ Coran chipped in. _“We could try—”_

The adviser flinched at the four simultaneous screams of _“No!”_ that cut him off.

_“Ah…suit yourselves.”_ There was a quieter addition of _“They’re not actually operational yet anyways.”_

Jordan huffed a bit. _“Maybe we should try putting them together literally,”_ he muttered.

_“What do you mean by that?”_ Stan asked.

_“Like—like stacking them on top of each other.”_

Koji frowned. “Jordan, I really don’t think that’s going to—”

_“It’s worth a try,”_ Shiro said with a small shrug, having been quiet until then.

_…I guess we’re doing that, then._

Three minutes later, the primary emotion Koji was able to pick up from Green was something between amusement and exasperation.

Another five passed before Stan broke the silence with, _“Shiro, I don’t think this is working.”_

_“You got any hints for me yet?”_ Eva muttered, and it took a few seconds for Koji to conclude that she’d directed it at the Red Lion.

_“Okay, I admit this was a stupid idea,”_ Jordan said, and the Blue Lion was felt adjusting its stance more than heard. _“I think—now that I’m thinking about it we were all…kind of doing our own thing on the Balmera.”_

That did sound familiar. Vaguely, anyways. “Well, at least we were all in the right place,” he commented.

_“Hey, don’t sound so surprised.”_ Stan paused, then snorted a bit. _“Though it would’ve been pretty funny if we did end up out of order or something. I mean—can you imagine if it ended up with a leg for a head?”_

There was a total of two seconds before an indignant squawk was heard from Jordan, coinciding with a sensation that Koji hesitantly translated to Green laughing at the idea. Shiro had one hand up to his face, but at the same time it sounded like he was trying to keep back a laugh of his own.

_“Hey, at least this is nothing like when you tried flying the_ Arrow _,”_ Eva reassured, trying and failing at hiding a grin.

_“I guess you’re right,”_ he grumbled in response.

There was a cough over the comm-link before Allura said _“I suppose you haven’t had much luck.”_

_“Try_ any _,”_ Eva said dryly.

_“Ah, I hate to interrupt,”_ Coran cut in, the words sounding sharper than usual—right as one of Green’s various alarms started going off. _“But we’ve got company inbound, and not the friendly kind!”_

The sky lit up for a second, bright enough to have left an afterimage of a bleached variation of the landscape in Koji’s eyesight, and right as Green turned her head to look up the cause of it slammed into the planet’s surface, kicking up a wave of dust.

_“This again?!”_ was all Eva had to say on the matter when the air cleared. The Black Lion was quick to jump down from its perch on Red’s and Green’s backs, with the aforementioned two doing the same.

_“How in the world do these beasts keep finding us?”_ Koji dimly heard Allura exclaim over the comm, and honestly he was starting to wonder that too.

The metal casing fell away in short order to show that this thing, while at least followed the laser-lizard’s configuration by being humanoid, was also obviously _significantly_ better-armored than it, and maybe even the one from Arus. Its mismatched eyes locked onto them seconds after lighting up.

_“Everyone get ready,”_ Shiro said. _“We have no idea what this thing’s going to—look out!”_

Black jumped out of the way of a large, plasmatic orb that swung in a wide arc, just narrowly missing both it and the Red Lion, before swerving around again when the mech swung its right arm, which looked more like a weapon.

Green fired at it, but it did nothing—and the next Koji knew the Lion had been flung backwards and into the ground hard enough to make everything spin for a few seconds. Green’s presence spiked with some concern, to which he responded with a shaky “I’m okay.”

_“Uh, a little help would be nice!”_ Eva exclaimed.

_“We can’t,”_ was the grim response from Allura. _“The weapons aren’t done warming up, and I doubt the drones have enough firepower to even leave a mark on that thing. I’m afraid you’re on your own for this, at least for ten doboshes.”_

_“Alright, just keep the shields up until then,”_ Shiro said. _“We’ll keep it busy.”_

Then Koji looked at where Green had crashed—it was almost at the hill where Twyla’s hideout was. “Uh, guys? We should probably try getting it away from here,” he said, getting the Lion into the air.

_“How’re we supposed to do_ that _?”_ Jordan asked, pitch heightening a bit when his Lion had to swerve out of the way of the orb. _“Blue’s not even leaving a mark on this thing!”_

The Lions by themselves didn’t have enough firepower. They more than likely _would_ have enough together. But for that to happen…

Green picked up on the thought, and started at full-tilt back toward the others. Dimly, Shiro was heard coming to the same realization—they really had to _try_ for it here—

Then everything seemed to fade out, and then back in over the span of what seemed like seconds, but something was undeniably _different_ now—and it didn’t hit Koji until he noticed that the opposing mech had actually paused to re-assess its situation.

“Well that worked,” he noted, blinking a few times.

_“I guess it did,”_ Shiro agreed, being heard both aloud and…and kind of like a thought?

_Not now,_ he told himself, shaking his head a bit. _Later._ Agreement echoed over the link from the others.

Right now they just had to focus on the immediate threat to their lives.

* * *

Shiro took the lead for the most part, with either Jordan or Stan pitching in with ideas here and there—but the fight was mostly one-sided, as of the first hit that the thing blocked.

The orb had hit Black right between the wings, and it felt like being smacked in the back by a hammer, on top of being flung face-first into the dirt.

Not even being able to see in five ways at the same time was able to help with keeping an eye on both the mech and the orb—not without them all ending up disoriented even more.

Seeing in two directions was bearable, at least. She saw the mech coming at the same time as Koji seeing the orb _a bit too late_ —but instead of feeling full force of the impact, it was just…an impact, and they were able to get out of the way of the mech’s tackle in time because of that.

The reason for the hit not being as bad as it should’ve been? Black’s wings had detached from Voltron and stuck themselves together on Green instead, forming a second, larger shield.

The mech twitched its right arm, and the orb returned to its place in the divot at the end of it with a loud noise somewhere between a click and a buzz, which echoed in a way that was just as weird as feeling like the floor had shifted underfoot like it was sand instead of metal, or being able to just barely smell something acrid and metallic—

Everything snapped back into focus fast enough to make Eva jump, accentuated by Shiro saying _“I—I recognize this thing! I know how to beat him!”_

That statement had the others all playing along immediately, and for once Eva was content to let them handle it. This one looked just a _little_ too much like a person for her liking, and Shiro’s recognition stirred something else.

(The first hit on the shield had her flinch involuntarily.)

Myzax. That was the name Xi had mentioned all the way back on Arus, of the one clear detail they knew about Shiro’s year being held prisoner.

(The second hit made them stumble— _shield integrity at twenty percent_ —)

This mech was based on whoever Myzax was, or had been. Shiro remembered that much.

The third hit shattered the shield, and it was both Shiro’s abrupt exclamation and the force of the intent that accompanied it that had her acting before thinking, Red firing with everything he had that he was able to then.

A plume of black smoke signified the mech being hit, but it wasn’t until the orb flew out and hit Voltron in the chest that she was able to blink away the afterimage of a dimly-lit arena shrouded in kicked-up dust, but the vague not-memory of having something weighted and _sharp_ was still there—

Red leaped onto that trail, purring as a console to the side lifted like Yellow’s had on the Balmera.

There wasn’t time to consider what exactly the Lion was trying to convey; the mech had run at them and was coming in for an overhead strike—which left it with no way to defend itself from the sword that materialized between Red’s jaws. None of them saw the explosion that signified that the mech was down and out, but they all heard it.

There was silence, broken by Jordan saying _“What the_ heck _, Shiro! I didn’t know you knew how to swordfight!”_

_“I didn’t either until a few seconds ago,”_ was the response given, Shiro chuckling weakly.

Red had a sword. A _sword_. It dissipated as soon as the Lions came apart—there was that same feeling of _something_ that lasted for a split-second before it was gone, and Eva let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

Red’s presence felt warm, pride radiating from him for a well-handled situation, but her own thoughts on it couldn’t be any further than that.

The creature on the Balmera had seemed like nothing more than an animal. A hyper-aggressive animal with a multitude of eyes that could shoot lasers, yes, but still an animal.

This one hadn’t been like that. Or the one on Arus.

The one on Arus had been playing cautious the whole time, and this one had studied them right back.

Shiro had recognized both its fighting style and the weapon itself. It might be just what Koji’s opinion on them was—that they were just AI’s—but at the same time, she had a nagging feeling that it was something… _worse_ than that, somehow.

The Lion seemed to shift a bit, making note of the idea, before nudging her focus toward the others. Both Allura and Coran had come out, and she almost didn’t notice Jordan edging a bit closer until he’d spoken up. “Hey uh—Eva? You didn’t…notice anything— _weird_ during that whole thing, did you?”

She looked at him sideways. “Weird how?”

“Like—like you were…somewhere else for a second.” It was whispered, a quick glance being thrown toward Shiro.

“Y-Yeah. How did you…?”

Jordan shrugged. To the side, she saw Koji say something to Stan, too quietly for her to hear, but they both glanced at Shiro in a way that had her thinking they’d gone through the same exact thing.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t be of more help,” Allura said, sounding frustrated. “The defenses finished warming up right as you destroyed that monster.”

“I think the next thing on the list is going to be sorting through everything as we move,” Coran put in. “I think the castle’s overdue for some system updates. Can’t have the essentials taking that long to start up.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” someone said from off to the side—poking her head up out of a unnaturally-perfect circle in the ground near an overturned rock was Twyla.

“What the—how are you—?” Jordan stuttered out as she climbed up.

“Underground passageways. This hideout’s been here before I was, and whoever made it really went over the top with them. Got something for you guys.” She took a device that looked like a large USB drive out of her cloak and tossed it to Shiro. “Great fight, by the way.”

“You saw that?” Shiro asked.

“Eyup. The end of it, anyways. The kids on the other hand, well. You already saw how well they listen.” She rolled her eyes at the last part, before turning to look at the Alteans. “I’m going to assume one of you is Allura?”

“That would be me, yes,” Allura said, stepping forward a bit. “I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. To be honest, we’ve been bunking here longer than we should’ve. Cedryn’s got that ship working again, so we just have to wait for a good time to bail. And speaking of ships.” She paused where she’d been about to jump back into the hole. “That one you had earlier was pretty nice. And on the off-chance we meet again, expect for the kids to badger you for autographs!” And with that, she was gone.

“Well, she’s one of the more pleasant unilu I’ve talked to,” Coran commented brightly. “The castle’s all set and ready for takeoff, so we might as well…uh, guys?”

To the side, both Stan and Koji had paled a bit, whereas Jordan blinked a few times, brow furrowing before asking “Wait, we’re not gonna have to deal with paparazzi or anything whenever we go somewhere public eventually, are we?”

“It’s…a possibility,” Shiro admitted.

“Oh. _Great_ ,” Stan muttered sarcastically.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Twyla’s weapon and the character Quirrel are both references to the game Hollow Knight.
> 
> -some of you may recognize the species Wayth is. If so, virtual cookies for you. Aerel’s takes some inspiration from the Argonians from the Elder Scrolls series (example of that series being Skyrim)
> 
> -Koji disliking bugs may or may not be canon, going on details in Ep12 of OSR, in that he referred to the caterpillars as “worms” at first, and was visibly nervous around them after being corrected (thought that also could’ve been because the aforementioned caterpillars had been chasing them)
> 
> -I’m aware that the last couple chapters have been focusing pretty heavily on Eva. That’s going to be the case for this story-arc, up to what is currently planned to be Chapter 17.


	13. Arc I: Race's End - Life's Essence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What bits and pieces the team has from Sendak's memories and the information received from Twyla both point to signs of a hidden base in a remote part of space.  
> It only makes a perfect amount of sense that their luck doesn't hold out, and that they have to launch a rescue mission.  
> Which ends _very badly_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO THIS HAPPENED.  
> Which is to say, my brain did a Weird and decided to bust out another chapter within two days. Now that I’m thinking things over, more isn’t always better. Especially if the shorter ones don’t fry my brain.  
> So my new minimum-word-count is 4k. _Chapter lengths can and will vary widely._  
>  Pacing’s a bit weird in this chapter, but to avoid spoilers, the segments meant to have happened simultaneously will be clarified at the end of the chapter.  
> EDIT: okay so what was meant to be Chapter 14 didn’t hit that new limit. Ergo, it’s been added to this one.

“That’s it?” Jordan exclaimed after a few minutes. They were all gathered on the bridge, specifically around one of the consoles, which was currently in use by Koji.

The good news was that the downtime had let their technician get a translation program working, but that didn’t change that the amount of things on the data-thing Twyla had given them was…well, not much. There was a map with a few colored points on them, and a few lines drawn, but that was really it.

“It’s still something we can use,” Shiro said, some gentle rebuke in his tone. “Hitting supply lines would be a good place to start.”

“ _If_ that’s what it is…”

“It looks like it,” Koji noted. “It sort of matches up with what we have from—from Sendak. They both mention these—coordinates?”

“Those are coordinates, yes,” Allura confirmed. _Space coordinates are freakishly long. That…makes sense, actually._

“I’ll pull up the location,” Coran said, jogging over to the main console. Five seconds later the main display screen flickered, showing three planets.

“Is it on one of those?” Eva asked.

“I…don’t think so, no. The long-range sensors aren’t picking up a thing.”

“Maybe it’s hidden,” Stan suggested.

“That’s entirely possible,” Coran noted. “Weapons probably aren’t the only thing they’ve improved over the last ten-thousand decaphoebs.”

“Then there’s only one way to know for sure,” Allura said decidedly. “I’ll set a course for that location now. It will be at least a varga before we get there, so in the meantime, there’s something I need to cover with all five of you on the training deck.”

After they’d reached, the room, Stan asked “So why are we down here?”

“The point of this is to be prepared for a situation where you might not have your bayard on-hand, for one reason or another,” Allura explained. At the same time, a segment of the wall slid aside to reveal a whole assortment of various weapons hung on clips. “Do any of you have any sort of experience with any of these?”

Jordan could tell very easily that a few of the things in there were laser-guns. There were also a few swords of varying shape, and he saw a bow with a quiver of arrows at the far end of it. A few things, he didn’t recognize a single _part_ of.

There was also a few staffs of varying length, one of which he took off its stand after a bit of decision-making, and Allura’s face lit up before taking one of the others out. “Perfect! I happen to know how to use one of these myself. I don’t suppose you’re up for a spar?”

He returned the grin, saying “You’re on,” while getting into a stance—only to have to immediately parry an overhead swing, which was followed by a sideways lunge that sent him sprawling.

For a few seconds, Jordan was left lying there stunned, before it registered what had just happened. “I wasn’t ready that time,” he grunted, getting back up.

Allura laughed. “If you say so!”

* * *

By the time Coran called them back to the bridge, Koji was left with a newfound wariness of Allura. Jordan was off to the side, still breathing a bit heavily while looking absolutely mutinous, and would probably have more than a few bruises later on.

He’d come close a few times, toward the end, but was otherwise very familiarized with the floor of the training deck now. Allura seemed barely fazed.

The castleship steadily came around from behind the reddish-hued planet that had been seen on the screen roughly an hour ago, and once they were past it—

“There it is,” Shiro said, mouth quirking into a smile. Built on and hanging mostly off of what could probably be considered a very large asteroid was a jaggedly-shaped metal structure, which had three battlecruisers docked at it at that moment, though it looked like all three were outgoing.

Coran did something at the main console, and a new overlay appeared on the display screen, built around the view. “It appears the gravitation between the two planets warps the electron emission spectrum enough to keep the base off of the deep-space scanners. Very clever.”

Allura looked thoughtful. “By the look of it, it’s a supply station. Not something that would typically be difficult to locate.”

“There must be more to it than we’re seeing, then,” Shiro said. “Princess, where would be the best place to infiltrate the base be?”

In response, she expanded the view of a specific part of the base. “The best place for us to enter would be here, at the central control building.”

“Wait, _us_?” Stan gave her a quizzical look.

“I’m going with you,” Allura affirmed, stepping back from the controls. “I’ve been to transportation hubs like this one many times before the war began, so I’m the most familiar with them out of all of you.”

“Princess, I’d much rather you stay here,” Coran interjected nervously.

She scowled at him in response. “I’m a part of this fight against Zarkon as much as anyone else here. Therefore, I’m going. Does anyone have a problem with that?”

So long as it meant they weren’t going in there blind, Koji was okay with it. Stan said something along that same idea. Jordan stayed quiet, and Eva shrugged a little. “Fine,” Shiro affirmed. “Suit up.” That prompted Coran to pale several shades.

Before any of them could reach the lifts to the Lions, Shiro quickly added “Uh—hold up guys. We’re not going in to wreck the place. We just want to figure out why it’s hidden.”

Eva stared at him. “Okay, but how’re we supposed to get in there?”

“The Green Lion has cloaking.” Shiro nodded a bit at Koji as he said that.

_Oh. Right._ Stan was also giving him a look, which was returned discreetly, and it wasn’t until he’d traced one finger in a triangular motion that Koji realized what he was thinking about.

“Uh, I’ll—I’ll meet you at the hangar,” he managed to get out before turning and starting down the hall at a brisk pace.

Green had perked up little by little over the course of the entire conversation, though it stalled a bit now at the current objective. Now it was more of something half curiosity and half concern, once he’d reached his room on the ship, and had crouched by the larger cabinet in the desk that was set against the wall.

_It’s fine,_ he thought, aimed both at the Lion and reminding himself while opening it up. Rover floated out with a chirp, the thin orange line painted around the lens part being noticed after a few seconds of staring once he’d picked up his tablet—which he’d needed to get anyways—and double-checked that it was fully charged.

He’d been confused (and admittedly a little suspicious) when Stan had been persistently asking him where he’d been keeping Rover, but now he knew why.

“Good thinking,” was Shiro’s comment on seeing the drone when he’d reached the hangar. “That’ll make opening doors a bit easier.”

The last time they’d all been in a Lion’s cockpit, it had been minus one person and in Red’s. It was a considerable reminder that even though it was definitely roomier than an average ship’s, it was still really only meant for one person at a time.

“It’s, um, very…nice in here,” Eva said awkwardly after they’d left the castleship’s confines, trying to force a smile. Out of everyone else, she seemed the most out-of-place; at first it had seemed like she wasn’t sure where to stand, before settling for a spot to the right by the viewscreen.

Green purred a little in amusement at the comment, and Koji passed on the message, “Uh—Green said thanks.” There was a quick smile in response, gone before he could blink.

It was almost like she still wasn’t sure how to interact with them.

_“I can flood their short-range sensors with a radiation burst,”_ Coran said over the comm, still sounding none-too-happy about all of this. _“It should buy you a dobosh or so, but after that, you’re on your own.”_

The Green Lion arced around the dark side of the asteroid on Shiro’s direction, coming to a landing on a ledge above the control building itself. Surprisingly enough, there was both a breathable atmosphere and enough gravity for them to be able to walk normally, and have to make careful use of the jetpacks the suits came with to make sure they didn’t hit the metal too hard.

The doors in the building responded readily to Rover, and the patrols were all sentries that were easily avoided thanks to Shiro—apparently the patrol patterns were the same everywhere. When they reached the control room, Koji saw a total of three figures inside, two of which were moving a bit too stiffly to not be anything other than robots. The third was in the middle of yawning.

Jordan had his bayard ready in seconds, though Shiro interrupted with a motion to be quiet before creeping up behind the Galra, and tapping one of his shoulders.

The Galra turned his head, and looked at them blankly for about three seconds before Shiro clocked him in the face with his prosthetic hard enough to knock him over the edge of the platform. Jordan dispatched both of the sentries almost at the same time.

Stan gave Shiro a flat look. “Did you really have to do that?” Shiro just shrugged in response, smiling a bit. Allura chuckled a little from where she was standing by the door, keeping an eye out for anyone that might head in their direction.

It was easy enough to figure out where some cables could be plugged in—it seemed USB ports were universal when it came to computers—and even easier once Green suggested the idea of using Rover as a midway point. “Okay, it’s getting translated as it’s downloading, so it’ll take a little while,” Koji said once it was all set up.

“Um, how long, exactly?” Eva asked tersely. “I don’t think we have too much time here.” A shadow fell over the building as she finished speaking, the source being a battlecruiser.

At the same time, the front console beeped a few times, prompting them all to duck under the desk, right before a screen appeared, showing one confused-looking Galra. _This can’t be good._

It was quiet for a few very, very long seconds, before Eva whispered “What’s he waiting for?”

“Some kind of signal maybe?” Koji whispered back. This _really_ couldn’t be good. If they thought to investigate why no one was in there—

“I got this,” Jordan said quietly, slowly inching out from under the desk and propping up one of the broken sentries, managing to have it make a few motions with one arm. Koji couldn’t really make out the Galra’s expression, but he made a hand motion back after it was over, the screen vanishing.

“Nice going, Jordan!” Eva commented.

Koji sighed, and looked at the tablet screen before frowning. “Oh…well this is all useless,” he muttered, scrolling up and down to make sure nothing had been missed by the translation program.

“What is it?” Stan asked.

“It’s just a schedule of all the ships coming and going.”

“Where’s that one going?” Allura hadn’t taken her eyes off of the battlecruiser that had just docked.

“Uh…central command?” That had translated literally, by the look of it. “It’ll be heading there in thirty, uh…” _Of course_ there would be some words that didn’t have a close-enough equivalent.

“Thirty doboshes,” the princess clarified. “That’s plenty of time—the information we need is on that ship. I’m going to sneak onto it and get it for us.”

Honestly, at this point it’d probably be easier to just adjust to the time measurements used out here.

“Okay, that sounds great,” Jordan said dryly. “But how’re you gonna even get on there?”

Allura smiled. “I’m going to walk right in through the front door.”

What happened next was marked by the initial observation that she looked more _purple_ than usual, and it wasn’t just the lighting, followed by the fact that she also appeared to be getting taller.

Not even ten seconds later, she looked _remarkably_ like the unconscious Galra that had been shoved into the corner of the room.

“How did you _do_ that?!” Eva exclaimed loudly, jumping to her feet from where she’d been sitting.

“Shapeshifting is a feat all Alteans are capable of, to a degree,” she explained, amused. “Some are more proficient at it than others, but it’s otherwise a trait that make—” She paused for a second, face falling momentarily. “Well, _made_ us renowned diplomats. All I need is a disguise, which we have right there.” Allura nodded at the unconscious guard.

“That is _so_ not fair,” Jordan muttered, at the same time as Shiro’s “I can’t let you go in there alone.”

Allura scowled. “Excuse me? I do _not_ need your permission.” That line had Koji thinking of Eva, who turned to look at Shiro along with Jordan.

“It’s too dangerous,” Shiro insisted. “I’m going too.”

“You’ll stick out like a choferiak’s nose!”

“You might need him, though,” Stan pointed out. “You won’t have to take an arm off a robot since Shiro’s already got one.”

The princess scowled at him, but it wasn’t really much compared to the stormy looks they’d gotten from Don Wei a few times. She sighed heavily after a few seconds, muttering “Fine, you can come. I think I have an idea on how to sneak you on board.”

* * *

Allura’s idea was to have Shiro hide in a bin full of scrap metal. Aside from being stopped to let some people _off_ of the ship, they made it in without an issue.

Jordan leaned forward a bit to get a better look out the window. “What’s in those containers?”

“Something yellow and…glowing, I think,” Stan observed, with some sarcasm. “Other than that, I got nothing.”

Koji looked at it for a few seconds before unplugging the cable from the computer, and taking the helmet off of the more-intact sentry. “Well, maybe this thing has some info.”

Exactly two seconds after the cable was connected, the sentry droned _“Security breach detected. Initiating lockdown.”_

“…I might need a few minutes.”

Eva huffed a bit, looking back out the window—and straightened a bit subconsciously. “Whoa, what’s with the guy in the robes?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like the looks of him,” Jordan said flatly, side-eying her with a look that said _don’t even think about it_.

Unfortunately for him, she was already set on it. “I’m gonna check this out,” she announced, starting toward the door and ignoring the sputtered protests from Jordan that followed.

It wasn’t until she was starting to turn a corner that she saw that Jordan was actually _following_. He cut her off before she could protest, saying “Shiro had a point earlier. Besides—we’re partners, right?” He flashed a grin at the end of the statement.

Eva grinned back after a brief moment of thinking it over. “You got that right. Now c’mon!”

Finding their way out of the building was easy enough; getting inside the _main_ part of it was only managed by some quick thinking with the jetpack—something about shooting forward like that while not in a ship was _fun_ , and probably something she’d want to practice doing at some point.

After that, a few minutes were spent just tailing the robed guy and the robots hauling the containers at what Jordan insisted was a “safe” distance, only having to stop once for them each to take out a sentry (Eva found that she was more accurate the closer she was to the target), and then the last hall had opened up into a room just flat-out _filled_ with more of the containers, and featuring some complicated setup some meters above the floor in the middle of it.

“What the heck _is_ this place?” Jordan asked in a whisper.

“Beats me, but I bet the others are gonna wanna hear about it,” she replied, spotting the robed guy on a platform near the top of the setup.

The centerpiece of it all was some kind of reddish-purple-glowing glass sphere, which was slowly filling the yellow substance. Then the robed guy lifted his arms, and there was a bright flash and a sharp crackling sound before the entire room was highlighted an eerie shade of violet.

The contents of the sphere quickly changed color to match the lighting, filtering out into a much-smaller canister. “Looks like it’s some kind of refinery,” Jordan muttered, blinking before his eyes widened a bit, and Eva saw his visor gain a green outline. “Hey uh, guys? You see this, right?”

There was a gasp from over the comm. _“I—I’ve never seen anything like that,”_ Coran exclaimed quietly.

_“What_ is _that?”_ Stan sounded somewhere between intrigued and wary.

Then, in the background, the sentry spoke: _“The material is quintessence, the substance with the highest known energy per unit volume in the universe.”_

_“What? That’s impossible.”_ Coran’s tone took a turn for the disbelieving and…Eva wasn’t sure what else it was, but it sounded something like _fear_.

That Red snapped to attention at the word “quintessence” was also something that put her on edge.

_“Raw quintessence material is transported here from throughout the galaxy and refined into standardized Galra fuel requirements,”_ the sentry went on.

_“You guys heard that, right?”_ Koji said, followed by a mutter of _“Never thought I’d interrogate a robot.”_

“Yeah, we heard it,” Eva affirmed. “I’m gonna try to get some of that quin-whatever stuff.”

“Mo—Eva that is a _really_ bad idea!” Jordan hissed, stumbling over her name. “We don’t know what that robed guy even is!”

“He’s probably just another Galra,” she retorted. “Jordan, we’ll be _fine_!”

* * *

Everything was going fine. Perfectly, even. They figured out why the base was hidden (well, to a degree), and they were in the midst of acquiring some _quite_ up-to-date information from the base’s main computer—the computer in his gauntlet was able to connect to the battlecruiser’s database through his prosthetic, and Koji was managing the download from the control room.

Of course, there was a fine line between _perfect_ and _too perfect_ , as proven when an alarm starting going off at the same time as a computerized voice intoning _“Fugitive prisoner 117-9875 detected. Remain where you are. Security alerted.”_

Allura practically leaped backwards into the room, shutting the door right as the Galra that had been attempting small talk both shouted for backup and fired his weapon, leaving dents in the door. “I think we’re in trouble,” he said, scanning the room for any other possible exits. Which there weren’t.

“ _You think_?!” Allure repeated, tensing—and then she charged the door, taking it right off its foundation, knocking out the guard immediately, and taking his weapon as he slid to the floor. She frowned slightly at looking back at him. “What?”

Shiro didn’t get a chance to say anything before a few laser shots just barely missed both of them, sourced from an incoming horde of sentries, which prompted them both to take off running. “Koji, both you and Stan need to get back to the Green Lion, now!”

_“Wait, why? What’s going on?”_

A shot sounding off from beside him had Shiro glance to the side instead of answering. Allura glanced down at the laser-rifle in hand, then in the opposite direction of where she’d likely _intended_ to fire—at the leading sentry in patrol of three, which now sported a clean hole through it. He took care of the other two quickly, with Allura grabbing the one she’d shot and flinging it into the horde.

“I thought you said you’d traveled around the galaxy,” Shiro ranted a bit while taking the weapon and turning it over before giving it back. “You fly a _spaceship_. How could you _possibly_ not know how to hold this?”

“I’m _tense_!” she retorted hotly, grabbing him by the shoulder before breaking into a run. “This is a tense situation!”

_“Secure hatches,”_ someone intoned over a speaker system. _“All personnel take positions for departure.”_

_Not good._

Even though it was a slightly-different model of battlecruiser than Sendak’s had been, this battlecruiser followed the same basic layout—a second announcement garnered a split-second stumble from Allura, with the anxious line of “We won’t be able to leave once the ship goes into hyper-speed!” after having pried the now-useless helmet off.

They raced around another corner and into the first bay holding one of the escape pods, Shiro pausing momentarily to slam his hand against a button to close the doors—but that didn’t stop the horde of sentries, with two of them moving to open it again after the launch sequence was started for the pod.

Allura turned back to try forcing it shut, to little avail; while being flimsy in build, the sentries were about as strong as a person-like robot would typically be.

“Shiro, you have to go!”

“I’m not leaving you here!” he shot back, silently willing the metal to weld together faster—his prosthetic’s heat output was enough to make it _just_ malleable enough—

The next thing he knew he’d been flung through the air, landing heavily on the floor of the shuttle before the doors sealed, rolling a bit from the extra momentum. _She didn’t…_

Shiro scrambled to his feet, just in time to see the horde force the doors open, and a small parting smile from the princess.

* * *

In retrospect, things really had been going just a _little_ too well. Jordan had taken his eyes off the robed creep for a few seconds to take a closer look at the glowing stuff in the canister after Eva had lifted it off of the conveyor, and when he’d looked back, the guy was just _gone_.

“Wait, where did he go?” she started, confused—then there was a sound like a loud, wordless whisper, and _something_ hit her hard enough to send her sprawling.

Namely, the hooded creep, who _also_ had an equally-creepy mask with six yellow eyes painted on it, vanishing again the second his bayard took form. _What the hell was that?!_

“E-Eva, are you alright?” He ran over to help her up, and she nodded jerkily.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she got out, looking up. The robed creep picked up the canister where it had been left on the floor, placing it carefully on the next conveyor thing before turning to face them again.

Jordan felt an eye twitch before firing a few shots—but the creep _teleported_ a few feet to the left, and again when Eva tried firing off a shot from her bayard at him, and the third occasion he was just gone altogether.

“Okay, I’ve never seen anyone do that before,” Eva said faintly, face paling a little. Then she looked up, eyes widening in fear, and Jordan barely registered her yanking him back with her before a bolt of purple-colored _lightning_ scorched the floor where they’d just been.

Blue had been tense in the back of his head ever since the word _quintessence_ had been dropped, but now that tension was devolving into panic. _Message received,_ he admitted to her after a few seconds. “Uh, Koji? We kinda need an extraction right about now!”

If the technician responded, Jordan didn’t hear it, because they both had to dash away from another _attempted-murder-via-lightning_.

_Maybe if I sneak up on him…_

The smoke was the thick-and-dark type and was leaving some sizable clouds in the air, but so long as he didn’t move—

Jordan swung his bayard overhead like how Allura had with her staff earlier, only for the masked alien to catch it with some sort of purple forcefield, turning his head to look right at him before firing off another lightning shot, point-blank.

It hurt like a _bitch_ , and hit hard enough to send him flying clear across the room and into one of the other canisters of quintessence.

He hissed out a breath at seeing his hands—not only had the lightning actually disintegrated part of the gauntlets, but by the look of it, he had some second-degree burns.

Another telltale crackling sound made him look up, but the _thing_ just teleported again when Eva tried nailing it with a plasma-arrow. (There was no way that thing was natural. _No fucking way_.)

There was also a snowball’s chance in a volcano that he was going to let that thing get another shot in at her. He was pretty sure at this point that it was mostly instinct directing the jetpack, with how it let out as soon as he was close enough to the upper conveyor belt. “Jordan, what— _oh_!” Eva broke off with a quiet exclamation when she got a look at his hands.

“Uh, it’s—this is nothing,” he tried diverting, forcibly keeping the tremor out of his voice. “It’ll—it’ll be fine once we get out of here. Magic h-healing tech, remem— _look out_!” He shoved her to the side if only because it was the first thing that came to mind when he saw the lightning bolt coming, both of them landing in a heap up against the container of quintessence that had been automatically removed from the shelf.

The masked thing was standing at the top of the ramp, one hand already glowing with another shot.

Jordan aimed the bayard, ignoring the fact that the movement got the nerves in his hands to practically scream with protest.

Both fired—and missed _spectacularly_ thanks to the foundation of the room shaking; the sound of a large amount of metal tearing preceded several dozen tons of giant mechanical cat crashing through the ceiling, which got a startled curse from Jordan and a short, surprised cry from Eva.

Whereas Jordan’s shot harmlessly dissipated against the top of a different canister the lightning bolt hit the glass of the one behind him and Eva directly, shattering it and promptly covering them both in the substance.

He heard Eva sputter a bit next to him, probably spitting some out, and he had some conflicting thoughts on his impulse of moving his arms to shield his face.

_“Get in—we have to get Shiro and Allura too!”_ was the hurried thread of words heard over the comm from the pilot of the aforementioned mechanical cat, and both of them practically vaulted onto the lower jaw of the Green Lion.

“What…what _was_ that thing?” Eva asked after a few moments of trying to catch her breath.

Jordan tried and failed at laughing. “I have no idea, but I never want to…huh?”

He thought the searing pain in his hands had devolved into pins-and-needles when the container shattered, but now that he was looking at the burns again…

Well, there _weren’t_ any burns.

“Huh,” he muttered again, turning his hands over a few times before exchanging a glance with Eva, who looked just as mystified as he was feeling. _Just what is that stuff?_

They both entered the Green Lion’s cockpit right as it landed on top of the control building, the battlecruiser lifting away from the surface of the base. “Nice entrance,” Eva commented lightly. Koji didn’t respond aside from a quick glance, muttering “They’d have to be in one of the shuttles at this point,” tersely.

It wasn’t until after the battlecruiser had shot off so fast it might as well have just _vanished_ that Jordan saw the shuttle—it was the same exact type of ship that Shiro had crashed on Alwas in.

That it was only Shiro that came out of the shuttle when the Green Lion drew closer put up a warning flag in Jordan’s head. His expression doubled it.

“Where’s Allura?” Koji asked uneasily.

“That ship. It was going to Zarkon’s central command, right?”

“Well, yeah, but…” He trailed off, eyes widening. “She’s not still on that thing, she?”

Shiro didn’t say anything, which was an answer in itself.

* * *

Green’s cockpit was silent the entire way back to the hangar, and the silence stayed until the five of them reached the bridge, broken when Shiro gave out sharp, hurried directions.

Coran pointed out the obvious in asking where Allura was. A low-toned “Nowhere good,” from Stan prompted the adviser to turn on Shiro.

“They captured her,” he said shortly. “She sacrificed herself to save me and the information. I didn’t have a choice.”

“How is that possible?!”

Shiro exhaled sharply. “Coran, I’m sorry things didn't go as planned, but we can’t focus on what went wrong. We’ve got to figure out how to make it right.” Coran was pale-faced, but he nodded in agreement.

“So what, we’re just gonna charge in there?” Jordan asked.

“No.” Shiro took a deep breath. “If I had to be honest, we shouldn’t even be _thinking_ about hitting Zarkon where he lives. But right now, we don’t have a choice.” His expression changed to something more along the lines of confusion then, and Eva followed his gaze, which was on Jordan’s gauntlets. The white part had been piecing itself together since they’d gotten into Green, but the fabric remained a mess.

Coran jumped a bit at noticing the damage. “And how in the world did _that_ happen?”

“Uh…” Jordan looked at Eva, who felt a subconscious grimace form. “Well, we sorta got in a fight with some freaky robed thing with a mask. The thing kept teleporting every time we tried hitting it. And don’t even get me started on the whole _lightning-throwing_ thing it was doing—that’s how this happened.”

“It—it was taking a container of that…quintessence stuff from the ship into the base,” Eva added. Over the course of Jordan speaking, she’d become aware of a cold, sinking feeling in the back of her head.

It wasn’t from Red. “You two went after a druid _by yourselves_?” Shiro’s face had slowly been paling as they had explained what had happened.

“Is that what they’re called?” Jordan seemed to shrink back a little. “But hey, it—it’s not even that bad, see?” He held his hands up, showing that they were unmarked.

Somehow.

“And—and I was the one that wanted to go after it. Won’t do it again.”

_Huh?_ Eva glanced sideways at Jordan’s last statement. Shiro seemed to have put his composure back together by that point, but she had a nagging feeling that it was held together by pins and needles right then.

“I think we have other things to worry about right now,” Stan cut in, tone borderline snapping from where he was standing by Koji. “Like _how we’re supposed to do this_.”

He gestured at the main display screen, which now featured a diagram of…what Eva assumed was the main feature of the _central command_. “Look at the size of it,” Coran breathed.

“Uh, I’m—not good with alien numbers, is this _good size_ or _bad size_?” Jordan asked.

“Bad.” Stan’s tone was grim now. “The thing’s _huge_.”

“Oh, _of course_ it is…”

“Okay, so it’s just a bigger target,” Eva said. “We just have to go in, get Allura, and get out. Easy, right?”

“In theory.” Koji didn’t sound optimistic, which by itself was bad news. “If there _is_ a way in, I’m not seeing it. Not to mention—” He paused before tapping one of the screens on the console, prompting a different screen of data to show up on the main screen. “If this is translating right, there’s an attendant fleet, which…consists of a lot of things that we’ve only seen twice, and both times gave us more than a bit of trouble.” Silence followed that.

Red had been growing more tense throughout the entire conversation, and when Eva tried querying him for any ideas, all she got in response was a vague sense of impending doom.

Which, for the short time she’d known the sentient ancient ship, was _fairly_ out-of-character.

Both Coran and Jordan had left the bridge while she hadn’t been paying attention—probably to go look for an intact undersuit to the armor for the latter—but the other three were still there. Shiro was staring up at the diagram, Koji was looking over the smaller version on the console, and Stan was pacing.

“Is…is anyone else getting a really bad feeling about this?” she asked finally.

Stan paused. “Well, Yellow’s pretty freaked-out right now, so I’d say yes.”

“Considering the circumstances, I think it’s reasonable that we’re all on edge,” Shiro said, tone calmly tired.

There was something more to it. That much she knew for sure. She just didn’t know _what_.

The door opening preceded the other two coming back, Jordan now with a fully-intact uniform, and Coran with a new glint of determination in his eyes before he marched over to the front console and highlighted part of the diagram. “This gas giant right here is the best chance we have for getting Allura back. The atmosphere’s dense to the point where we’d be perfectly hidden.”

“How’re we supposed to _get_ there?” Koji asked.

Coran smiled at that. “We wormhole in! It’s true that the teludav typically requires Allura to function, but we should have enough juice for one jump.” The smile faltered. “It’s a one-way trip without her, though.”

“We’re not leaving without her either way.” Shiro’s expression didn’t waver. Coran nodded, and proceeded to open up a wormhole.

“So it’s do-or-die. Got it,” Stan remarked. To the side, Koji visibly swallowed.

“I say we can take ‘em,” Jordan said confidently.

The opaque blues and blacks gave way to a field of reds and purples, open space being dimly visible just beyond, and past that…

_Oh wow, it_ is _big._

“Well, we’re too far to know for certain, but Allura is _definitely_ on the main ship,” Coran reported. “You’ll have to get closer for me to pinpoint her exact location.”

“We’re going to bring Voltron in fast, smash our way into Zarkon’s ship, grab the princess, and get out,” Shiro summarized. “Hopefully it’ll be quick enough so that they don’t have time to respond. Now let’s get moving!”

The trick was in the mindset. Coran had relented and explained it to them when he’d figured that they had the general concept of it down—on the Balmera, they’d all been likeminded enough in saving the Balmerans that it had triggered Voltron’s formation. The same went for the fight against the mech on Twyla’s planet.

It was daunting, willingly opening up the link to the others, but Red took center-stage along with the other four Lions and it might as well have been like turning a light on in a completely-dark room, because then the others were just _there_.

Shiro took the lead, guiding them through the web of shots fired from _multiple battlecruisers_ before tackling the closest one, driving Red’s head through the hull on top of it, an unspoken request for the sword.

Someone shuddered over the link as the ship was sliced open lengthwise, clipping an engine along the way if the following explosion was any indicator, and the forward charge was continued, even after slamming broadside into another battlecruiser, driving forward enough to push it into another—and _through_ it, even—before facing down the next line, the sword being sheathed in favor of the cannon that had last seen use on the Balmera. There had been at least seven, and now there were none.

Weapons switched again before they pressed onwards— _we’re doing fine, nothing to worry about_ —Zarkon’s ship was right ahead, it was a clear shot—

It was like running headlong into a brick wall.

Voltron froze in place with no warning, aside from the sudden _presence_ of something that brushed the sword’s existence away like it was an annoying bug.

It was an insidious, menacing thing— ** _you were fools to bring Voltron here_** —

_Something_ snapped.

The malevolence receding was enough to prompt some relief, but searing pain took front-stage like someone had taken a knife to her right shoulder, on top of the lingering panic/confusion/ _pain_ over the broken link from the others.

For a few seconds she was too disoriented to process anything, with the first coherent sentence heard being _“What the_ heck _was_ that _?”_ from Jordan, the words wavering.

(Forget tense, Red was officially in full-blown _I-knew-it_ mode in a bad way once his own disorientation was thoroughly smothered.)

_“I don’t know, but I’m_ _pretty sure we never had a chance to catch them off-guard in the first place,”_ Stan warned, the Yellow Lion angling to face the other direction. Specifically, toward an incoming fleet of maybe twenty battlecruisers, with a moving wall of red lights that were fighters right behind them.

Eva was left with the ugly feeling that Stan was right. They’d been expected.

* * *

Yellow was since past _freaked out_ , but was trying to hide it. Really, he was.

But it leaked over anyways, and Stan had made note of his breathing being just a bit quicker than it usually was. The fighters were solid, but their design also left them with two pseudo-handles that the Lions could all clamp onto with their jaws, and were _quite_ throwable, even with no gravity. On top of that, they were all definitely _hitting harder_ this time around too.

The Lion had been quick to explain it as best as he could—when they’d first been found and brought back to Arus, they hadn’t been at full firing-power. If anything, they’d been more at one-fourth. The reasoning for that had come across as a confused jumble of ideas, but the concept was nebulously translated as something based in teamwork.

Strength as a unit.

In that department, they were definitely better than where they’d been when they’d left Alwas.

_“They just keep coming!”_ Jordan exclaimed after the Blue Lion had frozen a small cluster of fighters, wheeling around to face another battlecruiser. Yellow narrowly avoided getting nailed by another one’s ion cannon, but before Stan could even start an idea on potentially hitting back, something else hit the ship first.

Namely, a bluish-white ray sourced from the castleship, accompanying a shout of _“I’ve waited ten-thousand decaphoebs for this!”_ from Coran.

“Nice timing,” Stan breathed, taking the chance to scan the area. Blue was off to the right, Red was darting around three different battlecruisers while landing occasional hits on a random one, and…and he couldn’t see the Black Lion anywhere.

_“I don’t suppose anyone has any idea on what to do now,”_ Koji said after the Green Lion had managed to hit part of one ship hard enough to get a reaction, the resulting flames being smothered by the vacuum of space almost immediately. _“Things aren’t really going like we planned!”_

_“I’m going for the Black Lion,”_ Shiro said finally, tone low, and the words earned a spike of alarm from Yellow. _“My jetpack’s damaged, so I’ll have to go through the ship. You guys get the princess!”_

_“Get the Black Lion—Shiro what are you talking about?”_ Eva asked.

_“I've identified Allura’s exact location,”_ Coran reported tersely. _“I’m getting you all the coordinates now. In the meantime, I'll provide covering fire from out here. All alone. Against an entire fleet. So, yeah, do you mind hurrying?”_

“We’ll try, but no promises!”

Yellow’s console beeped, and part of the main ship was highlighted on the screen. _“How’re we even supposed to get in there, anyways?”_ Jordan asked.

_“Maybe I—I could try getting one of the cargo bays open remotely,”_ Koji started. _“But I’d need some time to—”_

_“I don’t think we have time for that!”_ Eva interrupted, the Red Lion shooting off in the general direction of…the Black Lion?

Yellow’s alarm—no, wait, that was _fear_ now—only sharpened even more when they saw how close Black was to Zarkon’s ship.

The Blue Lion paused after turning to fire off another freeze-ray, angling toward the highlighted portion. _“I got this one, guys!”_

“Jordan, what are you—?” Stan didn’t have to finish asking, what with how Blue rammed right into the ship, hard enough to punch a hole through the hull. “I guess that works,” he muttered. “Uh, Koji? I think we’re gonna have to cover Jordan here.”

* * *

Coran had Allura’s exact location down to a dime—Blue had stuck her head through the wall almost directly across from the cell. Allura was pale-faced when the door slid open. “ _Please_ tell me you didn’t bring Voltron to Zarkon’s central command.”

“Hello to you too,” he greeted sarcastically. “And we kinda had to if we wanted to get you out of here!”

“Where’s the Black Lion?”

Before they’d left the castle before the fight, Blue had been very insistently reinforcing the idea of keeping close to the Black Lion. The situation had prevented that.

“Uh—I’m not sure but Shiro’s in here somewhere too…” He opened a link to the Black Lion’s pilot, intending to let him know that he’d found Allura, but a garbled exclamation from the other end stopped him short.

A look of comprehension crossed the princess’s face, before a determined one replaced it. “He needs help!”

“Uh—alright. Guys, did you hear that?”

_“Just don’t take too long!”_ Koji snapped. The sharpness of the words startled Jordan enough to make him stumble a bit, but he otherwise kept running. _Note to self, don’t bother Koji when he’s tense._

He let Allura take the lead, since she seemed to at least have a vague idea on where to go, until they reached a hangar full of fighters—and a whole bunch of identical aliens wearing robes that reminded him just a _little_ too much of the masked thing from earlier.

…was it seriously still the same day?

Allura’s gaze darted back and forth, before pointing. “Shoot that one!”

He didn’t need any further inclination than that—he heard someone scream before the shots hit _something_ , the room emptying in seconds by means of most of the occupants vanishing. The smoke cleared to show one left, glaring daggers at them with sickly-yellow eyes that he could make out easily, even with the distance. She vanished too, though, when Shiro tried swinging at her with his prosthetic.

“Get back here you—you space hag!” Jordan shouted, looking around for her.

“Jordan don’t even _think_ about trying to fight her.” Shiro’s tone by itself left no room for argument, and Blue was fervently agreeing with him in a way that left Jordan with a suspicion that the Lion knew who that was. “Let’s just—focus on getting out of here.”

As they were making their way back to Blue, a wave of mixed anger and frustration hit him from somewhere over the link, and the suddenness of it almost made Jordan trip—but it really _wasn’t_ sudden, now that he was thinking about it.

It had been there from the start, and he was only just _really_ noticing it since now it wasn’t hiding behind focused determination. And the faintness of it really only left one option for who the source was.

Shiro also tripped a bit, hissing out a curse, before saying “We need to hurry.”

* * *

Red slammed into the Black Lion seconds before it could make contact with the behemoth above them both, sailing limply into the surface of one of the side-sections of the larger ship. Eva had seen some oddly-shaped ships back on Alwas, but this one took the cake.

Her Lion’s tension was at an all-time high, with him pushing the idea of _getting Black away from the ship_ , but that cut off when someone—actually a _person_ , not in a ship or anything—came up from behind them and went right by, skidding to a halt on the metal a few meters away from Black. “Okay, who’s this guy supposed to be?” Eva asked, feeling slightly uneasy. (That cold feeling was back.)

Over the comm, Coran hissed in a breath. _“Eva, get out of there—that’s Zarkon!”_

The tension vanished, replaced with a cold fire.

The reason they were millions and millions of lightyears away from home, the reason the Great Race of Ōban had to be cut short for her, for the rest of the team, for everyone else that had been on Alwas, the reason she _didn’t know where her dad was_ —was just standing right there.

For a few seconds then, Eva was fairly certain she was seeing red, and it wasn’t just the light from the displays. They charged, firing a shot during the first flyby and arcing around—then something hit them, sending Red tumbling through open space, though he righted himself after a few seconds. _Wait, where’d he get_ that _from?_

The pressure was _definitely_ back now, but this time it wasn’t overreaching, it was _focused_ now, and wholly unimpressed with their attempt.

Red snarled, firing again, and then lunging in a pounce, but Zarkon was already gone; they were just barely able to avoid a violet laser that left one _extremely_ big hole in the distant ring-structure that connected the three planets around the main ship, and jump again seconds later to avoid a second shot that had come moments after.

_Maybe if we can get in close—!_

The idea might as well have been telegraphed, with how much ease their opponent switched tactics, wielding something like an oversized chain-whip. Agile as he was, Red could still only change directions so fast when already in motion, and he was snagged on the hind-right leg and thrown to the ground.

Red’s HUD was flickering, the Lion himself reeling from the impact.

The cold pressure had only been getting steadily worse has the fight had gone on, Eva being left with a distinct impression of being laughed at _and she was not appreciating that sensation one bit_.

For a few seconds, the view outside was replaced by a blurred sky gray with rain, the fading outline of a car getting further away no matter how fast she ran—

Eva grit her teeth together, shaking her head to clear it and attempted to get her bearings back, glaring at the emperor. She felt a slight chill as she looked at him—he was looking directly back, like he could see her through Red—then everything was dyed orange, smoke billowing away from the flaming wreck that was once the _Cloud II_ —

The pressure, having briefly intensified to a point where it felt like someone was driving a nail into her head, flickered with something registering as _boredom_ before Zarkon charged.

Red reacted first, getting back to his feet just in time, narrowly dodging the slice aimed at them. A yelp tore from her throat when the chain grabbed one of the Lion’s legs yet again, slamming them back into the metal surface.

This was feeling less like a fight and more like a dog throwing around a toy—and _she and Red_ were the toy!

She felt—no, THEY felt…useless. They were useless.

They hadn’t been able to do anything when Stan had almost been killed by the drone that Sendak had snuck into the castle on Arus—Red had been locked in his hangar and Eva had been locked outside the whole time.

Jordan got hurt because she was too reckless, too blind to realize that it was dangerous to follow that masked thing. She hadn’t been able to make herself do much more than just _watch_.

Red was snarling the entire time—Eva was seeing bits and pieces of a flaming cityscape, flames from the entry into an atmosphere of a planet _far_ from that one, seen from the eyes of someone else in both occasions, both long-dead and _he could do nothing to change anything about it_ —

Why couldn’t they do anything _useful_ for once—?

Then it was like a switch had been hit somewhere in one or maybe both of them, and Red abruptly seemed more top-heavy than usual, with him catching onto what just happened before she could finish processing it, the void-with-eyes flinching back _just a little_ —

Red fired, but it wasn’t from either of his usual cannons. No, it was from the much-bigger one now occupying a decent amount of space on his back. The shot was deflected after a few seconds, sure, but it didn’t just leave a hole in the ring-structure.

It _completely obliterated_ part of it.

“Oh wow,” she muttered, vaguely hearing shocked exclamations from both Stan and Koji over the comm.

Red’s presence flared— _focus!!!_ —and they acted immediately, jumping up for a better angle before firing again with the larger weapon, tracing a line of melted metal on the surface for a few seconds before having to stop so that the weapon didn’t overheat.

**_Impressive…for a_ ** **child _._**

The mocking, scathing words were the only warning given before something slammed into Red’s back _hard_ , sending them crashing down yet again. This time, the HUD overlay vanished, the cockpit going dark.

Sword, whip, shield, laser-cannon, chain-whip, and a mace. All from one convenient little weirdly-shaped device.

The choking pressure zeroed in on her in the link, showing amusement at her delayed realization.

The black bayard had been _lost with its paladin_ , and Zarkon had it right there.

Everything suddenly made a _frankly terrifying_ amount of sense.

“Red—Red c’mon,” she muttered, pulling back on the handles a few times, to no response. “Red we have to _move_ —!”

Eva flinched at hearing something explode, but it wasn’t a bad thing.

( _For once_.)

The Black Lion swooped in and grabbed Red like a mother cat would a kitten, beelining for the castleship. Red’s displays flickered on again when Black set him down on the floor of its hangar. _“Eva, are you okay?”_ Shiro asked worriedly.

“I—y-yeah, I’m—I’m…okay,” she managed to reply, vaguely aware of forcing a smile.

She didn’t feel alright. She could hear Allura—it was good that the others were able to get her back.

_(She knew Zarkon was Black’s first pilot and didn’t tell us.)_

Something was going on—Stan sounded irritated and stressed and kind of scared all at once and Coran also sounded scared.

_(Coran knew too.)_

The space outside flickered purple for a few seconds, and then she saw the familiar swirling interior of a wormhole. They were safe.

Safe until it suddenly turned a shade of purple _she was_ _quite sick of seeing by that point_.

Coran was talking again—something about the wormhole’s integrity being compromised.

Then Red was being thrown around again, this time by whatever weird gravity there was in a wormhole, and Black’s claws scraped against the metal floor enough to leave trails of sparks.

She saw Blue, Green, and Yellow all go spiraling away into the void, the others all sounding about as panicked and _terrified_ as she was feeling not too long ago—

Her Lion collided with the border of the collapsing wormhole, and everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Segments that are meant to happen at approximately the same time:  
>  **“Everything was going fine. Perfectly, even.” = “In retrospect, things really had been going just a little too well.”**  
>  **“Coran had Allura’s exact location down to a dime” = “Red slammed into the Black Lion seconds before it could make contact”**


End file.
